Macau: gaming staff activist withdraws from legislative election

Cloee Chao Sao Fong, a casino labour activist, has been disqualified along with 20 other candidates for not pledging allegiance to the Macau Special Administrative Region.

Macau.- As Macau prepares for the Legislative Assembly election to be held on September 12, Macau’s Electoral Affairs Commission has disqualified 20 candidates.

Among those who have been disqualified is Cloee Chao Sao Fong, a casino labour activist who was the lead candidate for the New Macao Gaming List.

She had already presented her group’s political programme and list of candidates to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission. She has had to withdraw together with the second candidate on her ticket, Jeremy Lei Man Chao.

Macau’s Electoral Affairs Commission argued that candidates “had not upheld Macau’s Basic Law and had not met the requirement of pledging allegiance to the Macau Special Administrative Region.”

Cloee Chao Sao Fong said she should have been allowed to stand for election but due to the current circumstances, her group has decided not to replace any members on the electoral ticket.

The other three members of the gaming labour group have decided to withdraw, meaning the party no longer meets the minimum requirements to run for the direct election.

During the elections, twelve seats will be indirectly elected via local functional constituencies and the remaining seven will be appointed by the chief executive after elections.

Angela Leong On Kei, co-chairman and executive director of Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd, will stand for re-election as a member of Macau’s Legislative Assembly. This time, Leong will be part of the indirect-election portion of the process.

A public consultation on an amendment to Macau’s gaming law is likely to be held after legislative elections as Macau’s current casino licences are due to expire in June 2022.