The head of a pro-democracy group that had the strongest showing in Macau's first post-handover legislative election attributed the surprise result to a fall in vote fraud.
Ng Kuok-cheong's New Democratic Macau Association won two out of the 10 directly elected seats in the 27-member legislature. It took 16,960 votes or 20.95 per cent of the total ballot, the highest for a single group.
'We won because there was no vote-buying,' Mr Ng said yesterday, adding the results of Sunday's poll were proof 'the elections took place in a sound environment'.
Macau's last direct legislative election, in 1996, was overshadowed by allegations of massive vote-buying and other irregularities.
The post-handover Government this year set up a taskforce to fight bribes and vote-rigging.
About 70 people are under investigation for election-related irregularities in the run up to the polls. About 40 complaints were received on Sunday.