Macau has no political parties. A record number of 12 lists, encouraged by a proportional-representation system favouring small groups, vied for votes in the last polls, which also produced a record turnout of 64 per cent. Analysts expect this year's turnout among the 160,000 registered voters to top 70 per cent. Unlike Hong Kong, public housing, the Falun Gong sect and relations with Beijing are non-issues. The formula to calculate this amount, corresponding to 0.02 per cent of the respective election year's budgetary receipts by the Government, is enshrined in Macau's new electoral law.
Cynics claim the statutory ceiling on campaign expenditure is little more than window dressing.
Just 6,332 votes sufficed in the last polls to win a directly-elected seat. However, ethnic platforms, which are exclusionary by definition, proved non-starters in past direct polls. Talk about their possible candidacy is perhaps just another pre-election pirouette. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.