The Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) has confirmed the validity of the candidacy nominations of all the six electoral lists that had submitted the involved associations’ signatures endorsing their respective candidacy for the upcoming indirect legislative election.
The legislature’s 12 indirectly-elected seats comprise four seats representing the city’s industrial, commercial and financial sector, three seats from the professional sector, two seats from the labour sector, two seats from the cultural and sports sector, and one seat from the social services and educational sector.
In order to be accepted for the indirect legislative election, a list is required to obtain nominations from at least 20 percent of the respective sector’s associations that have been registered for voting.
CAEAL President Seng Ioi Man made the remarks while speaking to reporters on Monday after chairing a regular closed-door meeting of the commission at the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo.
The 2025 direct and indirect legislative elections will take place on September 14.
According to Seng’s announcements on Monday, two lists have submitted nomination signatures for the upcoming indirect election’s labour sector, while only one list has submitted nomination signatures for each of the other four sectors.
Consequently, while candidates to be chosen by the two lists for the labour sector are slated to compete for the sector’s two indirectly elected seats, all candidates of the other four sectors’ electoral lists are slated to be elected uncontested.
According to Seng, the six indirect election lists whose candidacies have been accepted comprise the Union of Macau Business Interests for the industrial, commercial and financial sector; the Union of Macau Professionals’ Interests for the professional sector; the Joint Candidacy Committee of Employees’ Associations, and the Union of Workers’ Associations for the labour sector; the Rising Sun Cultural and Sports Union for the cultural and sports sector; and the Social Service and Education Promotion Association for the social services and educational sector.
For the four sectors where the candidates are slated to run uncontested, the names of the four lists for the upcoming indirect elections are the same as in the elections four years ago.
Macau’s direct and indirect Legislative Assembly (AL) elections are held every four years.
In the 2021 indirect election, only one candidacy list ran for each of the five sectors, meaning that all the then 12 candidates were elected unopposed.
The Joint Candidacy Committee of Employees’ Associations list for the labour sector, which will run in the upcoming indirect election, ran in the indirect election four years ago, meaning that the Union of Workers’ Associations will run in the indirect election for the first time.
In the 2017 indirect election, two lists ran for the professional sector, competing for the sector’s three seats, while the other sectors’ candidates were running unopposed at that time.
Pedestrians walk past the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo on Sunday that has a banner promoting the upcoming direct and indirect legislative election on September 14. – Photo: Tony Wong
