Election Campaign for New Macao Legislative Assembly Starts

Election Campaign for New Macao Legislative Assembly Starts

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The election campaign for the 2nd Legislative Assembly (LA) of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was kicked off in drizzle Friday mid-night amid public performances, truck parades and other propaganda activities.

The general voting on September 23 will elect ten directly- elected members out of the 27-seated LA, while the remaining seats are either indirectly elected or appointed by the chief executive of the SAR in line with the Basic Law.

A total of 96 people, who are divided into 15 groups, will stand for direct election. The number of registered voters has surpassed 160,000 and local press estimates that some 60 percent of them will join in the poll.

The authorities said that special buses will be arranged to carry voters to dozens of voting sites, and the votes will be counted as soon as possible.

All leading Macao-based newspapers covered the election campaign Saturday, and relevant news are expected to dominate local media in the coming two weeks.

This will be the most important election since Macao returned to the motherland at the end of 1999.