The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Chief Executive Election has issued a reminder that 23 April is the closing date for legal-person voters to register for the right to have a role in the selection process regarding the formation of the Chief Executive Election Committee.

As of 12pm on Monday (15 April), only 22 percent of the aggregate number of eligible legal-person voters had filed such registration request to the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, said the Commission’s President, Ms Song Man Lei, following a Commission meeting on Monday.

The coming Friday (19 April) and Monday (22 April) were Government holidays, Ms Song noted.

Legal-person voters – i.e. registered associations with voting power for the Chief Executive Election Committee – should register their interest in the process by the 23 April deadline. The representative chosen by each legal-person voter will then be authorised to nominate candidates for the Chief Executive Election Committee.

The date for the Chief Executive Election Committee polling – which will choose most of the Committee’s members – has been set for 16 June. A 400-member Chief Executive Election Committee will subsequently elect a new Chief Executive.

During Monday’s meeting, the Commission also discussed the method for filling out the ballot paper and the validation criteria for voting. The Commission has decided to use an electronic system for counting votes. The method for filling in the ballot paper would be the same as that adopted during the 2014 Chief Executive Election process, i.e. pens specifically for the purpose would be allocated to the voting booths.

At Monday’s meeting the Commission also confirmed receiving on 12 April the list of Legislative Assembly members that will sit on the Chief Executive Election Committee.

In response to questions from the media, Ms Song said the Legislative Assembly had its internal regulations regarding which of its members were selected to sit on the Chief Executive Election Committee. She noted the Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution in 2004, stipulating Assembly members could have automatic nomination to the Chief Executive Election Committee – in any scenario where the number of Legislative Assembly members putting themselves forward to serve on the Chief Executive Election Committee was equal to, or fewer than, the number of places officially allocated to the Legislative Assembly for the Chief Executive Election Committee.

Ms Song additionally said Macao deputies to the National People’s Congress had the status of being ex-officio members of the Chief Executive Election Committee. Such persons were required to submit relevant information to the Commission 10 days ahead of the June polling, i.e. on 6 June.

Macao delegates to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and members of the Municipal Affairs Bureau should submit their respective lists of representatives for the Chief Executive Election Committee procedure – following their respective selection processes – to the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Chief Executive Election, on 16 June, the date for choosing membership of the Chief Executive Election Committee.