Measure for Election of Deputies of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China to the Eleventh National People’s Congress
(Adopted at the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People’s Congress on March 16, 2007)
Article 1 These Measures are enacted in accordance with the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China an the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 15 of the Election Law of the National People’s Congress and Local People’s Congresses of the People’s Republic of China and in view of the actual conditions of the Macao Special Administrative Region.
Article 2 The election of deputies of the Macao Special Administrative Region to the Eleventh National People’s Congress shall be under the direction of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Article 3 The number of deputies to be elected from the Macao Special Administrative Region on the Eleventh National People’s Congress is 36.
Article 4 Deputies to be elected from the Macao Special Administrative Region to the National People’s Congress shall be Chinese citizens among the residents of the Macao Special Administrative Region who have reached the age of 18.
Article 5 A Council for Election of Deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress shall be formed in the Macao Special Administrative Region. The Election Council shall be composed of the ex-members of the Council for Election of Deputies of the Macao Special Administrative Region to the Tenth National People’s Congress, the members of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference from among the residents of the Macao Special Administrative Region, who are not ex-members as mentioned above, the members of the Selection Committee for the Second Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region who are Chinese citizens and the members of the Third Legislative Council of the Macao Special Administrative Region who are Chinese citizens. However, those who have expressed their unwillingness to become members of the Election Council shall be excepted.
The Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region shall be a member of the Election Council for Deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress.
The name list of the members of the Election Council shall be published by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Article 6 The first meeting of the Election Council shall be convened by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, at which 15 of its members shall, on the basis of the nomination made by the Council of Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, be elected to form a presidium.
The Presidium shall preside over the Election Council. The executive chairman of the Presidium shall preside over the meetings of the Presidium.
Article 7 The Election Council shall hold its plenary meeting only when more than half of its members are present. Article 8 Members of the Election Council shall attend the Council’s meetings and perform their duties in their capacity as individuals.
Members of the Election Council are expected to attend the Council’s meetings; if a member cannot attend a meeting for special reasons, he/she shall ask the Presidium for leave of absence in advance.
No member of the Election Council may, directly or indirectly, demand or accept bribes from any participants or candidates in the election or seek any other benefits, nor may he/she directly or indirectly try, by offering benefits, to affect the positions held by the participants or candidates in the election.
Article 9 The election date shall be determined by the Presidium of the Election Council.
Article 10 Each of the candidates for deputies to the National People’s Congress shall jointly be nominated by ten or more members of the Election Council. The number of candidates for deputies jointly nominated by each member shall not be greater than 12.
The member of the Election Council who nominates another person as a candidate shall fill in a Letter for Nomination of a Candidate for Deputy of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China to the Eleventh National People’s Congress.
Article 11 Any Chinese citizen from among the residents of the Macao Special Administrative Region, who has reached the age of 18 and who is willing to participate in the election of deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress, shall get and fill in a Participant’s Registration Form for Election of Deputies of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China to the Eleventh National People’s Congress. The participant shall be liable for the truthfulness of the facts filled in the form, and prior to the closing day for nomination, the Registration Forms filled in by the participants and the Letter for Nomination of a Candidate filled in separately by ten or more members of the Election Council shall be handed in.
Where a member of the Election Council is registered as a participant in election, it is necessary for ten or more other members of the Election Council to fill in the Letter for Nomination of a Candidate for him.
Article 12 The time for nomination of candidates for deputies shall be determined by the Presidium of the Election Council.
Article 13 The Presidium of the Election Council shall publish the name list of, and a brief introduction to, the candidates for deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress and have them printed and distributed to all the members of the Election Council.
After the Presidium publishes the name list of the candidates for deputies, members of the Election Council may look up the nomination of candidate.
Article 14 Competitive election shall be adopted in which the number of candidates for deputies to be elected by the Election Council to the Eleventh National People’s Congress shall be greater than the number of deputies to be elected.
Article 15 Secret ballot shall be adopted by the Election Council in the election of deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress.
When an election is held by the Election Council, if the number of votes cast is greater than the number of voters, the election shall be null and void; if it is equal to or less than the number of voters, the election shall be valid.
A ballot shall be valid if the number of candidates voted for is equal to the number of deputies to be elected; it shall be nullified if the number of candidates voted for is greater or less than the number deputies to be elected.
Article 16 Candidates for deputies shall be elected only if they have each obtained more than half of the votes cast by the members of the Election Council.
Where the number of candidates who have obtained more than half to the votes exceeds the number of deputies to be elected, the ones who have obtained more votes shall be elected. Where the number of votes for more candidates is tied, making it impossible to determine the ones elected, another balloting shall be conducted for these candidates to resolve the tie, and the ones who have obtained more votes shall be elected.
If the number of elected deputies who have obtained more than half of the votes cast is less than the number of deputies to be elected, another election shall be held to make up the difference. When another election is held, the name list of candidates shall be determined by the Presidium in the order of the number of votes they have obtained in the first balloting and according to the proportion for competitive election that the number of candidates shall be 20 to 50 percent greater than that of deputies to be elected. If only one deputy is to be elected, the number of candidates shall be two. When another election is held, the candidates for deputies shall be elected only if they have each obtained more than half of the votes cast by the members of the Election Council.
Article 17 The Election Council shall have one chief scrutineer and a number of scrutineers, who shall be nominated by the Presidium from among the members of the Election Council who are not candidates for deputies, subject to approval by the Election Council. The chief scrutineer and other scrutineers shall supervise the distribution, casting and counting of votes.
Article 18 Canvassing votes shall be forbidden on the day of election.
A ballot box is furnished to each section of seats at the meeting place, and members of the Election Council shall cast their votes into the boxes designed for their sections of seats respectively.
When vote-casting begins, the chief scrutineer and other scrutineers shall cast their votes first, and then the members of the Presidium and the other members of the Election Council shall cast their votes in order.
No member of the Election Council shall cast their votes by proxy.
Article 19 When vote-counting is completed, the chief scrutineer shall report the result to the Presidium. The Presidium shall announce the result of the election and submit it to the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall, on the basis of the report of the Credentials Committee, affirm the qualification of the deputies and publish the name list of the deputies.
Article 20 The presidium of the Election Council shall accept complaints about the election of deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress and transmit the complaints to the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for handling.
Article 21 Deputies of the Macao Special Administrative Region to the Eleventh National People’s Congress may submit their resignations to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which shall announce the resignations upon its decision to accept them.
Article 22 When the post of a deputy of the Macao Special Administrative Region to the Eleventh National People’s Congress becomes vacant for one reason or another, one of the candidates who have failed in the election of deputies of the Macao Special Administrative Region to the Eleventh National People’s Congress may fill the vacancy in the order of the number of votes they have obtained; however, the number of votes obtained by the candidate who is to fill the vacancy shall not be less than one-third of all the votes. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall, on the basis of the report of the Credentials Committee, affirm the qualification of the deputies for filling the vacancies and publish the name list of the deputies for filling the vacancies.
Where the number of votes for some candidates who have failed in the election of deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress is tied, making it impossible to determine the order of the candidates for filling the vacancies of the deputies’ post, the Presidium shall decide to conduct another balloting for these candidates to resolve the tie and determine the order according to the number of votes candidate has obtained.