Parliament expected to have "more loyalists" after disqualifications

Political commentator Sonny Lo Shiu-Hing told Lusa this Wednesday that with the disqualification of 12 candidates for parliament in Macau, due to a lack of patriotism, a parliament is expected in the future with "many more loyalists than opponents."

The disqualification of 12 members of parliament, announced Tuesday by Macau's electoral commission, "means that members of parliament must be more politically correct and it is expected that there will be many more loyalists than opponents," said Sonny Lo Shiu-Hing.

“The changes to the rules and regulations for MPs seem to point in that direction,” he added.

Sonny Lo refers to the approval, a week ago, in the Legislative Assembly (AL) of amendments to the laws of the Statute of Deputies and the regulations of the parliamentary rules, which, fundamentally, reinforce the powers of the president of the assembly and embody in the two articles the fundamental principle of “Macau governed by patriots” and the Law of Defense of State Security.

Macau's electoral commission said on Tuesday that the State Security Defense Commission (CDSE) excluded two candidate lists for the AL elections due to a lack of patriotism .

The chairman of the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Committee (CAEAL) explained that 12 candidates from the two lists “do not defend the Basic Law [the territory’s “mini-Constitution”] and are loyal to the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.”

The exclusion includes six candidates from the Popular Livelihood Force list in Macau, led by social worker Alberto Wong, who was running for the AL for the first time. The other list is the Power of Synergy, led by current member of parliament Ron Lam U Tou, who, in the last elections in 2021, had been the seventh most voted, with 8,764 votes.

Seng Ioi Man assured that the binding opinions of the CDSE, which cannot be appealed, “have a clear and sufficient legal basis” and were prepared “ taking into account the facts ”.

However, the judge refused to reveal the facts that led to the exclusion, arguing that "the work and documents of the State Security Defense Commission are confidential." Their disclosure "may pose certain risks to national security, and their content should not and cannot be published," he added.

"We don't really know the reasons, as the electoral law and the national security law include a range of possible reasons," Sonny Lo told Lusa.

In a response to Lusa, former pro-democracy MP Ng Kuok Cheong said that the disqualification “is a national secret” and that, “according to the CDSE, commenting on a national secret is revealing a national secret.”

"A new system has been created in Macau, meaning the CDSE made the decision and its status must be absolutely respected (...) They want to release information so that everyone knows that the decision does not depend on anyone else, only on the subjective decision of the CDSE," said Ng, one of the candidates disqualified in the 2021 legislative elections.

Shortly after the electoral commission's announcement, the CDSE stressed in a statement that when a candidate is excluded for lack of patriotism, all other candidates of the same line are also excluded.

At exactly the same time, the local government demonstrated, in another statement, “strong support” for the CDSE’s decision, which it described as “a correct measure for the full implementation of the fundamental principle ‘Macau governed by patriots’”.

Ron Lam, one of the few voices critical of the executive in the AL, told Lusa after the announcement that he had not yet received any official notification, but admitted that the exclusion "was very sudden." "I have a clear conscience. My initial intention for Macau will not change. I believe that the sun always comes after the storm!" the former journalist added.

In 2021, the electoral commission excluded five lists and 21 candidates— 15 of whom were pro-democracy . Macau then recorded the highest abstention rate since the Chinese region's creation—57.6%—and more than 5,200 people cast blank or spoiled ballots.

With the decision announced Tuesday, six direct suffrage lists will run in the elections scheduled for September 14 , eight fewer than four years ago. The new electoral law states that "anyone who publicly incites voters not to vote, to cast a blank or spoiled ballot, is punishable by up to three years in prison."

Thirty-three deputies make up the AL, of which 14 are elected by direct suffrage, 12 by indirect suffrage, through associations, and seven are appointed later by the head of the local Government.