The call to vote in the September 14 legislative elections does not come only from the candidate lists to the Legislative Assembly. Concessionaires, associations, and universities have also mobilized efforts to encourage participation. But the involvement of the Government itself is drawing greater attention.
Last week, Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai addressed a letter to all public service workers and entities, urging them to vote. In the document, which our newspaper had access to, Sam Hou Fai stressed that suffrage is a right but also a civic duty. He further recalled that, according to the “recently revised” Statute of Civil Service Workers of Macau (ETAPM), employees “must uphold the Basic Law and be loyal to the MSAR of the People’s Republic of China.”
In this context, the Chief Executive argued that, since the Legislative Assembly is “a legislative body of the MSAR provided for in the Basic Law, the fact that public service workers elect representatives to this legislative body through their vote is precisely a significant demonstration of upholding the Basic Law and of loyalty to the MSAR.”
Employees were asked to sign as acknowledgment that they had received and read the letter.
This week, civil servants began being summoned to their superiors’ offices, in some cases for collective meetings. On these occasions, they were asked to take part in the elections and to confirm, by message or phone call, that they had exercised their right to vote, under penalty of receiving “friendly reminders” until the closing of the polls.
According to accounts collected, while some managers limited themselves to appealing to civic participation, others adopted a tone closer to obligation—going so far as to request a written justification if employees could not show up at the polling stations.
A similar situation is said to be occurring in some universities, where professors and staff were also urged to vote. Despite the insistence promoted among civil servants, the president of the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL), Seng Ioi Man, told Lusa news agency that failure to appear would not result in “disciplinary responsibility,” but cited Article 95 of the electoral law: “Suffrage is a right and a civic duty.”
In 2021—the last legislative elections—the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) disqualified candidates for the first time. Five lists and 21 candidates were barred from direct suffrage, including 15 linked to the pro-democracy camp. The abstention rate reached a historic high of 57.6%, which the authorities attributed to a combination of adverse weather conditions and restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
For this year’s direct elections, six lists were admitted—the lowest number ever. Two candidacies, including one led by lawmaker Ron Lam, were excluded by decision of the State Security Defense Commission, which considered that the proposers “do not uphold the Basic Law or are not loyal to the MSAR.” Asked about the specific grounds of the decision, CAEAL president Seng Ioi Man declined to give explanations, arguing that disclosure could “pose certain risks to national security.”
