The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election, Mr Tong Hio Fong, speaks to reporters.
The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election today urged eligible voters to exercise their right, in order to have a role in choosing the Legislative Assembly’s membership.
The Commission Chairman, Mr Tong Hio Fong, made the comment today, ahead of the opening of the polling venue at the Macao Polytechnic Institute, which has polling stations for the direct and indirect elections, enabling voters eligible to cast ballots for both polls to do so at the same venue.
Today is election day for the sixth Legislative Assembly. All 42 polling stations across the city – in aggregate covering the direct and indirect elections – are open from 9am to 9pm today.
Voters are required to show a valid Macao identity card in order to receive a ballot paper at their designated polling station. Voters who have not yet identified the location of their assigned polling station, can find out the information via a telephone hotline (+853 2891 7917); or by visiting any of the self-service kiosks set up at those Government offices directly serving the public.
Mr Tong issued a reminder that voters are not allowed to use mobile phones or other recording devices inside the polling stations. There is also a prohibition – applicable within 100 metres of a polling station – on anyone either questioning a voter about what choice they have made, or on anyone disclosing their choice. Voters have the right to refuse to take part in any exit polls conducted outside polling venues.
The cooling-off period – includes a ban on campaigning activities – began at the end of Friday, and applies all day today. Anyone judged to have failed to heed the ban is considered under Macao law to have committed a criminal offence.
As of Sunday morning, the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election, the Commission Against Corruption, and the police had respectively received information about an aggregate of 10 suspected cases of violation of the cooling-off period rules, concerning an aggregate of up to six election teams. The police are investigating the complaints.