Macao begins public consultation on legislative assembly election law revisions

Macao on Saturday started a 30-day public consultation on revisions of the special administrative region's legislative assembly election law.

The revisions aim to ensure the maintenance of a just, fair and open environment for legislative assembly elections, Secretary for Administration and Justice Chan Hoi Fan said during a press conference.

Those revisions include: definition of promotional activities associated with electoral campaigns and their regulation; the introduction of a mechanism to monitor campaign expenses; strengthening of supervision on electoral activity, including any electioneering outside Macao; and an update to the rules for candidacy.

The revision also covers enhanced management of electoral affairs, including the appointment of the members of the electoral affairs commission; an invitation to members of the public prosecutions office to join the commission; the appointment of a body to handle minor infringement cases; and regulations regarding campaign advertisement on newspapers and websites.

Parts of the proposed revisions, such as introduction of the concept of criminal responsibility for infringement of provisions in the legislative assembly election law, were in line with the United Nations Convention against Corruption, said the Assistant Commissioner Against Corruption Lam Chi Long during the press conference. Endit