Macau Legislative Assembly Welcomes New Set of Casino-linked Lawmakers, Another Term for Angela Leong

Macau Legislative Assembly

According to the results of a recent poll in Macau, three new members have been directly elected to the Legislative Assembly, with the executive director of SJM Holdings Ltd ( a Macau-based casino operator), Angela Leong On Kei having been re-elected for her fourth consecutive term. Leong has been recurrently elected directly for the Macau Legislative Assembly since 2005.

Out of a total number of 33 seats, fourteen had been made available for direct election to the 2017 poll for the Legislative Assembly. According to the constitution of Macau, while a fixed number of Legislative Assembly seats are appointed for direct election, the rest are apportioned to direct appointment by the chief executive of the city or indirect elections.

As per a report published by the Electoral Affairs Commission, this year, a total of 174,000 ballots have been cast for appointment by direct election, implying that the voter turnout rate was recorded at 57 percent. The figures suggest a spike in the voter turnout rate as compared to the one recorded in the previous election in 2013 at 52 percent. The 2017 election saw a total of 24 electoral tickets contesting for the Macau Legislative Assembly’s direct-election seats.

A majority of the candidates for the directly elected seats have a close association with the local gaming industry in Macau and are therefore representing political agendas in relation to support for youth entrepreneurship, social benefits, housing policy and so on. However, contrary to common expectation, there were only a few policies that concerned the casino industry.

One of the biggest winners in the election included a party led by the twin junket representatives, Zheng Anting and Mak SOi Sun, with their ticket receiving a staggering 10 percent of the total ballots cast at 17,207 votes. Both Zheng and Mak Soi have been members of the Legislative Assembly earlier as well.

Another ex-legislator, Chan Meng Kam, who is also a local casino operator based in Fujian, although did not run for election this year, campaigned with Song Pek Kei and Si Ka Lon, both of whom were re-elected to the Assembly this Sunday.

Chan Mei Yi, the wife of chief executive and co-chairman of Macau Legend Development Ltd ( a Macau-based casino operator), David Chow Kam Fai, unfortunately, lost her seat while gearing for re-election on Sunday.