Macau, China, June 3, 2025 (Lusa) - Portuguese MP José Pereira Coutinho said on Tuesday that there is “unfair competition” in the Macau parliamentary elections and accused candidate lists of deceiving elderly people to obtain signatures.
At the end of March, the Macau Government launched a consumer card worth 300 patacas (€33) for people over 65 and allowed several local associations to help the elderly with the process.
“Many of our friends and members (…) thought they were signing a document for the card exchange formalities,” said Pereira Coutinho, president of the Macau Civil Servants Association.
But, the MP complained, “many of them” had in fact signed, “out of ignorance,” documents supporting another candidate in the elections for the territory’s Legislative Assembly (parliament).
On March 18, the president of the electoral commission said he had “taken note” of comments on the Internet that elderly people who had asked associations for help in exchanging their consumer cards had been asked to support candidates.
Seng Ioi Man said he was “monitoring” any cases of pressure or coercion of voters in the formation of candidate committees for the legislative elections scheduled for September 14.
José Pereira Coutinho did not reveal the composition of the list, but guaranteed the presence of Rita Santos, who in October requested the suspension of her mandate as councillor for the Portuguese Communities to prepare for the elections.
Pereira Coutinho resigned in 2021 from his position as councillor for the Portuguese Communities, to which he had been elected in 2015, representing China, Macau and Hong Kong.
These will be the first elections since the exclusion in 2021 of five lists and 21 candidates, 15 of whom were pro-democracy, for “not defending the Basic Law” and not being “loyal to the MSAR [Macau Special Administrative Region]”.
The United States and the European Union criticised this exclusion, arguing that it contravenes the rights guaranteed in the Basic Law, the territory’s ‘mini-constitution’, and political pluralism, as well as restricting democratic debate.
Pereira Coutinho said he was confident that he would not be disqualified, despite being – along with MP Ron Lam U Tou – one of the few voices critical of the government in the Macau parliament.
“Being critical does not mean that I am not patriotic, I am also patriotic,” said the former candidate for the Portuguese parliament in 2015 for the Nós Cidadãos party.
“We have always worked here for the good of Macau and for the good of the citizens of Macau,” added Pereira Coutinho.
Thirty-three MPs are included in the parliament, 14 of whom are elected by direct suffrage, 12 by indirect suffrage through associations and seven are appointed by the head of the local government.
VQ/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
