Turnout Down As Macau Elects Lawmakers

Macau election officials blamed the Covid-19 pandemic after turnout fell sharply in the SAR's legislative election on Sunday.

Voters went to the polls to choose 14 directly elected lawmakers, while professional sectors chose 12 lawmakers in indirect polls. Macau's Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng will appoint the remaining seven seats in the 33-strong assembly.

The SAR's Electoral Affairs Commission had disqualified 21 opposition candidates in July after it "proved they did not uphold Macau's Basic Law and were not loyal to Macau".

The final voting rate was just over 42 percent – down by just under 15 percentage points compared to the 57 percent turnout in the last election in 2017.

With over 320,000 eligible voters, only 137,281 cast their votes to return 14 seats out of 33 total seats in the Legislative Assembly. They were contested by 128 candidates from 14 parties.

Tong Hio-fong, chairman of the commission, blamed the pandemic for the low turnout rate, noting that those overseas could not return to Macau to vote due to border closures.

______________________________