The Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) has announced the personal details of the candidates fielded by the eight lists that have submitted their respective lists of candidates and political platforms for the upcoming direct legislative election, according to which 84 candidates will vie for the 14 directly-elected seats at stake – if their respective qualifications are all finally confirmed by the commission.
Consequently, if all of them are confirmed there will only be six candidates per seat at stake. Four years ago, 126 candidates from 14 lists vied for the 14 directly-elected seats at stake, equivalent to nine candidates for each seat.
The commission has also announced the personal details of the 14 candidates fielded by the six lists competing for the 12 seats at stake in the upcoming indirect election.
The personal details of the 84 direct election candidates and the 14 indirect election candidates were posted on the ground floor of the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo on Saturday.
The lists of candidates that have been posted are merely preliminary lists. The commission will assess the qualifications of the candidates, during which it will request the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) Committee for Safeguarding National Security to assess whether the candidates uphold the MSAR Basic Law and bear allegiance to the MSAR.
After the vetting process, according to the electoral schedule, the commission will be required to announce its list of accepted candidates by July 15. If no objections to the commission’s decision are lodged, the commission will be required to announce its final list of accepted candidates by July 18, while if appeals are lodged to the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) against the commission’s decision, the commission will be required to announce the final list by July 31 following the court’s ruling.
The 2025 direct and indirect legislative elections will take place on September 14.
Each direct election list must field at least four and no more than 14 candidates.
The 33-member Legislative Assembly (AL) currently comprises 14 deputies directly elected by universal suffrage, 12 deputies indirectly elected by association representatives and seven deputies appointed by the chief executive after the direct and indirect elections.
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.
Two lists will run for the upcoming indirect election’s labour sector.
The labour sector is the only sector where more than one list will run in the upcoming indirect election, while only one list will run for each of the other four sectors.
The number of candidates fielded by each indirect election list must be the same as the respective sector’s number of seats.
Therefore, a total of 14 candidates fielded by the six indirect election lists will vie for the 12 seats at stake – if their respective qualifications are all finally confirmed by the commission.
Consequently, while the four candidates fielded by the two lists for the labour sector will compete for the sector’s two indirectly-elected seats, all candidates of the other four sectors’ electoral lists are slated to be elected uncontested.
The eight direct election lists, with the personal details of their candidates having been posted, comprise, by order of the timing of their respective submissions of lists of candidates and political platforms: 1) Macau United Citizens Association (ACUM), 2) Union for Development (UPD), 3) Progress Promotion Union (UPP), 4) Macau Creating People’s Livelihood Force, 5) Power of Synergy, 6) Alliance for a Happy Home, 7) New Hope, and 8) Macau-Guangdong Union (UMG).
The six indirect election lists, with the personal details of their candidates having been posted, 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.
This photo taken yesterday shows the preliminary lists of candidates for the upcoming direct and indirect legislative elections posted on the ground floor of the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo. – Photo: Tony Wong
