The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Mr Cheong Weng Chon, urged voters to exercise their civic right in advance of the polls closing at 9pm.
Speaking to reporters this morning after casting his vote at the Instituto Salesiano, Secretary Cheong pointed out the Electoral Affairs Commission had taken a number of measures to ensure the poll ran smoothly. For example, information on the real-time number of people waiting to enter each polling station was available via the election website. Also, more polling staff had been assigned to the Macao Polytechnic Institute polling station in order to clear a crowd of waiting voters that had built up there, and to speed up the voting procedures.
Secretary Cheong noted the poll was going well overall. Voters were cooperative in terms of observing anti-epidemic control measures in place at polling venues.
The Government looked forward to working with the new-term Legislative Assembly, which would convene in mid-October, said Mr Cheong.
Speaking to reporters after casting his own ballot in the afternoon at the Olympic Sports Centre, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Lei Wai Nong, called on voters to exercise their civic duty, selecting their preferred ticket to provide representation in the Legislative Assembly.
The Secretary for Security, Mr Wong Sio Chak, urged registered voters to exercise their civic duty in a lawful manner.
After casting his vote at the Olympic Sports Centre at 3.30pm, Secretary Wong gave an update on the number of cases the police had recorded involving suspicion of some form of violation relating to the election. There was up to that time an aggregate of 18 cases. Of these, 17 involved the use of a mobile phone inside polling stations; the other case allegedly concerned campaigning effort. The police were investigating the cases and would pass their recommendations to the Public Prosecutions Office once the respective investigations were completed, he said.
In the morning, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Ms Ao Ieong U, went to her assigned polling station at Sacred Heart Canossian College (Chinese section) to cast her ballot. She said voting was taking place in an orderly manner and in compliance with anti-epidemic measures, including people adhering to social distancing rules when waiting to enter the polling stations.
Secretary Ao Ieong thanked all polling station staff for their contribution to the process, including those from the Health Bureau. She noted there were at least two healthcare workers stationed at each polling venue.
Secretary Ao Ieong said the MSAR Government had always closely cooperated with the Legislative Assembly and maintained good communication with it. She added the Government would welcome the Legislative Assembly strengthening its supervision of the Government’s work.
The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Raimundo Arrais do Rosario, speaking to reporters after casting his vote at the Olympic Sports Centre, said the voting procedures had been smooth and orderly. He urged registered voters to come out to vote, to exercise their civic duty.
The Commissioner Against Corruption, Mr Chan Tsz King, said that since the beginning of preparatory work for the election to date, the CCAC had launched an aggregate of more than 8,000 inspections regarding election-related matters. Very few cases had been identified as involving some form of violation. Mr Chan said the overall situation was therefore satisfactory.
Mr Chan made the comment at around 10am after casting his vote at the Instituto Salesiano polling station. Mr Chan said the voting went smoothly. He encouraged voters to fulfil their civic duty, and to maintain positive sentiment concerning the election.
As of the morning, the CCAC had been inspecting a total of 25 election-related cases. They mainly concerned either alleged corruption or alleged violation regarding the duty of neutrality, said Mr Chan. Of the aggregate number, there were three cases with strong signs of some form of violation, he added.
When questioned by reporters on the topic, Mr Chan said the CCAC would take an overall view when looking into the value of promotional materials distributed by candidate teams. Some candidate teams had suspended handing out such materials after being contacted on the matter by the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election.
The CCAC was closely monitoring transportation services provided by some associations to voters on election day, including whether during the ride there was any effort to ask voters to vote for a particular ticket or any acts to impact voting intention, said Mr Chan. The Legislative Assembly Election Law did not ban such transport services, Mr Chan noted.
The Commissioner of Audit, Mr Ho Veng On, also urged voters to exercise their right to cast a ballot and choose a patriotic ticket to provide representation in the Legislative Assembly. This was in order to ensure the Assembly represented the views of the local community.
Mr Ho made the remarks to reporters this morning after casting his vote at the polling station at Santa Rosa de Lima English Secondary School. He said the voting procedure was smooth and quick, and the facilities at the polling station made the experience a comfortable one.
The Commissioner-General of the Unitary Police Service, Mr Leong Man Cheong, reminded voters that mobile phone use was not allowed during the voting process. Mr Leong issued the reminder in comments to the press after casting his vote at the Olympic Sports Centre.
The Public Prosecutor-General, Mr Ip Son Sang, today spoke highly of the work of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election in ensuring the election took place in an orderly and lawful manner.
Speaking to reporters at 10am after casting his vote at the Olympic Sports Centre in Taipa, Mr Ip said the voting process had been running smoothly, and the arrangements in place were appropriate.
The Public Prosecutions Office had so far received notice of 25 election-linked cases, mostly relating to alleged violation of campaigning rules. Some of them related to the official campaigning period, involving in some instances allegations of non-fulfilment of rules outlined respectively by the Electoral Affairs Commission and by the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC).