Macau elects at the regional level its head of government and legislature. The Legislative Assembly is made up of 33 members, of whom 14 are elected by popular vote under proportional representation, 12 elected from functional constituencies and 7 appointed by the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive of Macau is returned by a 400-member Election Committee on five-year intervals.
Voter registration and candidacy Natural persons can register as an elector of direct suffrage to the Legislative Assembly if they: have reached 18 years of age; are permanent resident of Macau; and are not declared by Courts as incompetent persons, deprived of political rights or manifestly insane.
Legal persons can nominate at most 22 electors with natural person suffrage to exercise the collective's voting rights for indirect suffrage to the Legislative Assembly and the Election Committee if they: are confirmed to be operating within the specified sector for at least 4 years; have obtained legal personality for at least 7 years; and for the Election Committee elections, are not in office as the Chief Executive, Principal Officials, Judicial Magistrates, Public Ministers and Members of the Election Management Committee.
Natural persons registered as electors can run for elections of direct suffrage and indirect suffrage in the sector they belong to. Electors can also run for the Election Committee if they are not in office as the Chief Executive, Principal Officials, Judicial Magistrates, Public Ministers and Members of the Election Management Committee.
Legislative Assembly elections Elections were held to return members of the Legislative Assembly since 1976. Members returned from direct suffrage and indirect suffrage have been elected with seats apportioned with a peculiar highest averages method. While D'Hondt uses 1,2,3,4,... as divisors, Macau instead uses 1,2,4,8,... as divisors Article 17, 2) of the electoral law. Their method disadvantages large parties, which is highly unusual among electoral systems. Suffrage was opened to Macau Residents without Portuguese citizenship in 1984.
Compositions of elected seats in the Legislative Assembly are as follows: 197619801984198819921996200120052009201320172021 Direct Suffrage68 101214 Indirect Suffrage681012 Total number of elected seats1216 202226 Total seats17 19 1723 272933
Chief Executive elections Candidates of the Chief Executive are required to be nominated by at least 50 members of the Election Committee, before he is returned by the Election Committee with an absolute majority. The compositions of electoral colleges returning the Chief Executive are as follows: 199920042009201420192024 Electoral College Selection Committee for Forming the 1st Government of the Macau SARElection Committee Size of electorate 200300400
+ Composition of the Election Committee (2013-)Sector SeatsNumber of ElectorsFirst Sector Industrial, Commercial and Financial 120 977Second Sector Cultural 26 611Educational 29 279Professional 43 695Sports 17 639Second Sector total 115 2,224Third Sector Labour 59 1,072Social Services 50 1,462Religious 6 Consultation among religious organisationsThird Sector total 115 2,534Fourth Sector Representatives of Members of the Legislative Assembly 22 Elected according to rules made by the Legislative AssemblyMacau Deputies to the National People's Congress 12 Ex officioRepresentatives of Macau Members of the CPPCC National Committee 14 Elected according to rules made by MembersRepresentatives of Members of Municipal Organisations 2 Elected according to rules made by Municipal OrganisationsFourth Sector total50
See also Electoral calendar Electoral system
Notes
References
External links Chief Executive Election Law (English translation) Chief Executive Election Law (Portuguese version) Chief Executive Election Law (Chinese version)