2021 Macanese legislative election
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33 in the Legislative Assembly 17 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 42.38% ( 14.84 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections for the 7th Legislative Assembly of Macao (Portuguese: Eleições para a 7.ª Assembleia Legislativa de Macau) were held in Macau on 12 September 2021. This legislative election will return 33 members of the Legislative Assembly of Macau, with 14 directly elected by all electorates, 12 indirectly elected by special interest groups and 7 appointed by the Chief Executive 15 days after the announcement of the election results.
The voter turnout rate for the 2021 Legislative Assembly direct election stood at 42 per cent after polls closed, the lowest rate reported since the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region in 1999.[1]
Mass disqualification
The Electoral Affairs Commission for this legislative election unprecedentedly disqualified some 21 candidates who intended to contest in the direct elections. As a result of those 21 hopefuls having been barred from running, five candidate lists consequently became unqualified due to the electoral requirement of a minimum of 4 contenders in each list.[2][3]
All pro-democracy candidates, except José Pereira Coutinho's candidate list,[4] were barred from running in the election. The mass disqualification created shock as Macau has been seen as "obedient" to the Beijing Government, while disqualifying election candidates, which had happened in Hong Kong before, was believed to be unlikely in Macau.[5]
Results
The turnout of the election was only 42.38%, marking the lowest since the 1988 election. The mass disqualification was said to be the reason of residents not voting, but officials claimed the weather and pandemic as main factors instead.[6] The number of invalid and blank ballots broke record, with some writing "trashed election", "democracy", name of disqualified candidate Antonio Ng, or foul languages.[7]
Pro-democracy camp won 2 seats only out of 33, whilst the remaining were under the control of pro-government and pro-Beijing parties and politicians as expected.
| № | Political affiliation |
Popular votes |
% of Votes |
Change in % of vote |
Seats |
Net change in seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro-Beijing camp | |||||||
| 3 | Macau United Citizens' Association (ACUM) | 26,593 | 20.14 |  11.52 |
3 | 2
| |
| 11 | Union for Development (UPD) | 23,760 | 17.99 | 8.32
|
2 | 
| |
| 1 | Macau-Guangdong Union (UMG) | 16,808 | 12.73 | 2.76 |
2 |
| |
| 8 | Progress Promotion Union (UPP) | 15,100 | 11.43 | 4.28
|
2 | 1
| |
| 9 | Alliance for a Happy Home (ABL) | 14,232 | 10.78 | 5.28
|
2 | 1
| |
| Pro-democracy camp | |||||||
| 14 | New Hope (NE) | 18,232 | 13.81 | 5.48
|
2 | 1
| |
| Centrists | |||||||
| 6 | Synergy Power (PS) | 8,763 | 6.64 | 2.49 |
1 | 1
| |
| 2 | Civic Watch (Cívico) | 3,729 | 2.82 | 2.74 |
0 | 1
| |
| No legislative representation | |||||||
| 7 | Força do Diálogo | 1433 | 1.09 | N/A | 0 |
| |
| 5 | Energia Colectiva de Macau | 918 | 0.70 | N/A | 0 |
| |
| 12 | Powers of Political Thought (PPP) | 834 | 0.63 | 0.24 |
0 |
| |
| 10 | Ou Mun Kong I (OMKI) | 778 | 0.59 | 0.36 |
0 |
| |
| 4 | Plataforma Para os Jovens | 542 | 0.41 | N/A | 0 |
| |
| 13 | Aliança Para a Promoção da Lei Básica de Macau | 334 | 0.25 | N/A | 0 |
| |
| Total and Turnout | 137,279 | 100 | 14 |
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| Valid votes | 132,056 | 96.20 | |||||
| Invalid votes | 2,082 | 1.52 | |||||
| Blank votes | 3,141 | 2.38 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 323,907 | 42.38 | |||||
| Indirectly elected and appointed members | |||||||
| — | Macau Union of Employers Interests (OMKC) | 969 | 4 |
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| — | Federation of Employees Associations (CCCAE) | 1,074 | 2 |
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| — | Macau Union of Professional Interests (OMCY) | 624 | 3 | 1
| |||
| — | Association for Promotion of Social Services and Education (APSSE) | 1,775 | 1 |
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| — | Excellent Culture and Sport Union (União Excelente) | 2,317 | 2 |
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| — | Members appointed by the Chief Executive | 7 |
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References
- ^ "2021 Legislative Assembly election with lowest voter turnout in SAR history". Macau Business. 2021-09-12. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
- ^ "Macau poll candidate numbers slashed by 31 to 128". The Standard. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
- ^ "In first for Macau, election chiefs disqualify 21 opposition members from running in September legislative elections". South China Morning Post. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
- ^ "為何無份被DQ？ 高天賜︰要問返選管會". 論盡媒體 AllAboutMacau Media. 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ^ "澳門立法會候選人遭集體DQ 「愛國愛澳」面臨重新定義". BBC News 中文 (in Traditional Chinese). 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
- ^ "澳門選舉沒有民主派，支持者們的零選擇投票日" [Macanese election without democrats; a no-choice polling day for the supporters]. The Initium. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
- ^ "澳門立會選舉廢票 2082 張 有選民寫「垃圾選舉」「謝主隆恩」 港澳辦：選舉延續愛國愛澳光榮傳統". Stand News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-25. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
