The Progress Promotion Union (UPP) candidacy group, the No.3 on the ballot paper for the 2025 direct legislative election, puts special emphasis on measures improving residents’ daily lives in various aspects and boosting the local economy, while also advocating improved governance, Macau’s strengthened roles on various international cooperation platforms, and urban renewal and development.
The group is one of the six candidacy groups running in the ongoing direct election with polling day on September 14.
The UPP list has fielded incumbent lawmakers Leong Hong Sai, 58, and Ngan Iek Hang, 41, as its first and second-ranked candidates for the 2025 direct election. Four years ago, the list won two seats when Leong and Ngan were also the first and second-ranked candidates.
Both became legislators for the first time in the 2021 direct election.
Leong is a civil engineer by profession, while Ngan works in the banking sector.
Leong has been a candidate of the UPP group since the 2009 direct election, ranking fourth, seventh and fifth in 2009, 2013 and 2017 respectively, while Ngan ran in the direct legislative election for the first time four years ago.
The group has fielded Lam Ka Chun, 48, as its third-ranked candidate for the 2025 direct election.
Lam, an Air Macau pilot by profession, stood as a candidate for the direct legislative election for the first time four years ago, when he was the fifth-ranked candidate.
The group comprises 10 candidates for the direct legislative election this time.
The UPP group has run in the legislature’s direct election since 1992, when Macau was still under temporary Portuguese administration.
The group has won one or two seats in every direct legislative election since it first took part in 1992.
The group is the electoral vehicle of the influential Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (commonly known as Kai Fong in Cantonese), one of the city’s biggest community associations.
Kou Hoi In, who has been the president of the legislature since 2019, joined the legislature in 1991 when a by-election was held. He was the second-ranked candidate of the UPP group, which won two directly-elected seats in the by-election at that time. He was re-elected in both the 1992 and 1996 direct elections when he stood as the second-ranked candidate of the UPP group.
After the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) on December 20, 1999, the first legislative elections were held in 2001 when Kou ran in the indirect election, representing the business sector. Since then, Kou has been an indirectly-elected lawmaker, representing the business sector.
Kou did not seek re-election in the ongoing indirect legislative election.
The UPP group’s political platform for the 2025 direct election comprises five major aspects, namely residents’ daily life matters, boosting the economy, good governance, Macau’s expanding roles on different service platforms, and urban development.
In the first aspect laid out by its political platform for the direct election this time, the candidacy group called for improved quality in various aspects of the city’s social services provided to the elderly and children.
The group urges the government to improve its public healthcare services with the aim of better safeguarding residents’ health, while also rolling out fresh measures aiming to help young local people pursue career and personal development.
The group stresses the need to improve the city’s public transport infrastructure, while also urging the government to improve the connectivity between the city’s public bus services and Light Rapid Transit (LRT) services.
The group calls for applications for subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) flats to be carried out on a regular and permanent basis.
The group urges the government to roll out new measures aiming to facilitate the proper maintenance of buildings across the city.
The group also calls for the stronger protection of consumers’ rights and benefits.
In the second aspect, the group’s political platform urges the government to roll out special measures aiming to support new graduates in securing jobs, while also calling for strengthened measures to help local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) upgrade their business operations, including digital transformation.
The group calls for strengthening the city’s role as a world tourism and leisure city, including an expansion of air passenger routes serving the city.
The group also calls for strengthened development of the city’s non-gaming attractions, while also urging the government to ensure that the city’s six gaming operators will shoulder stronger corporate responsibility.
The group urges the government to continue to diversify the city’s industries with the aim of creating new engines for economic growth.
The group also calls for the government to roll out fresh measures to more strongly support the development of the city’s emerging industries.
In the third aspect, the group’s political platform emphasises the government’s commitment to safeguarding national security while also urging the government to improve its coordination with the legislature concerning the drafting of new pieces of legislation.
The group calls for the government to reform its accountability system for officials.
The group also calls for e-government services to cover more aspects concerning residents’ daily lives.
The group urges the government to reform its current system for consulting community associations about its policy-making.
In the fourth aspect, the candidacy group’s political platform calls for the government to enhance the capability of Macau’s role as a business service platform with the aim of enabling the city to make greater contributions to the nation’s overall development.
The group calls for Macau’s stronger integration into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), with the aim of making it more convenient for Macau residents to live, work or study in the GBA.
The candidacy group also emphasises the need for the local government to ensure concrete achievements in the development of the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
In the fifth aspect, the group urges the government to ensure that its four large-scale projects for Macau’s long-term development will get off the ground.
The group urges the government to complete drafting its urban plans for the city’s various districts, while advancing and accelerating urban renewal of the city’s old quarters.
Leong Hong Sai (front, second from left), the first-ranked candidate of the Progress Promotion Union (UPP) candidacy group, its second-ranked candidate Ngan Iek Hang (front, second from right), its third-ranked candidate Lam Ka Chun (front, left), and Ng Siu Lai (front, centre), the candidacy group’s official representative, as well as other candidates address a press conference on Sunday about the group’s political platform, at the headquarters of the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations in Toi San district. – Photo: MPDG
