Macao goes to polls for legislative election

The election of the fifth Legislative Assembly of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) officially started Sunday morning as local registered voters cast their ballots in 31 polling stations across the city. In line with the Basic Law, the new legislature will be composed of 33 seats including 14 directly-elected seats, 12 indirectly-elected seats, and seven others which will be appointed by the SAR's chief executive. A total of 145 candidates from 20 groups will contest in the direct elections, while 12 candidates from 7 vocations will compete in the indirect elections. By 05:00 p.m. Sunday local time, some 112,196 voters have cast their ballots in various polling stations, a voter turnout of 40. 65 percent, according to the latest update from the Legislative Election Affairs Committee. The polling period will last from 09: 00 a.m. to 09:00 p.m. Sunday local time. The number of Macao's registered voters has reached 276,037 in this year's election, an increase of 10.99 percent over the previous legislative election in 2009. By law, only Macao's permanent residents aged 18 and above have the right to vote. To ensure the voting rights of residents who are serving their terms of imprisonment, the authorities also set up a polling station in the Macao Prison. The SAR's Chief Executive Chui Sai On, and several other top- ranking officials of the SAR government also cast their votes Sunday morning in a polling station located at the Instituto Salesiano da Imaculada Conceicao, a local high school near the SAR 's government headquarters. Chui called on all registered voters to turn out and cast their votes in the fifth election of members to the Legislative Assembly. He noted that the Electoral Affairs Committee had strictly abided by the law in the run-up to today's polls to ensure a fair election. He also stressed that the Government would not tolerate any violation of the law in this election