Macau Legislative Assembly Election Voter Turnout at 42% 'Bottom'... Blank and Invalid Votes Also Surge

Impact of Disqualification of 21 Minjupa Politicians from Election Candidacy

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] The voter turnout for the Macau Legislative Assembly election has dropped to the lowest level since the 1999 handover to China, accompanied by a sharp increase in blank and invalid ballots, Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported on the 13th.

According to the report, the voter turnout for the Macau Legislative Assembly election held the previous day was recorded at 42%. This represents a decline of about 15 percentage points compared to the 57% turnout in the 2017 election.

The number of blank and invalid ballots also increased significantly. Blank votes totaled 3,141, more than three times the 922 ballots in the previous election, and invalid ballots more than doubled. Foreign media attribute this outcome primarily to Macau election authorities disqualifying 21 pro-democracy candidates from running.

Earlier, the Macau Electoral Affairs Commission disqualified 21 candidates in July after a qualification review, stating that they did not uphold the Macau Basic Law and were not loyal to the Macau Special Administrative Region, which is part of China.

However, Macau election authorities explained the low turnout by citing "the spread of COVID-19 and high temperatures." In response, HKFP noted that "Macau's last reported COVID-19 case was six weeks ago, and the temperature on election day was 34 degrees Celsius."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.