For first time, Macau sees election for body that will choose next chief executive
For first time, there are more candidates than seats, but critics are not impressed
Macau held its first competitive poll yesterday for members of the election committee that will choose the city's next chief executive in August.
But that was not enough to satisfy critics, who said more than 99 per cent of residents in the former Portuguese enclave would still have no say.
Only 5,448 people were qualified to vote for the 344 seats on the election committee out of a shortlist of 352 candidates from various sectors - the first time that there were more runners than available seats.
The remaining 56 representatives were chosen by the political sector - including the city's legislature, members of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - and by the religious sector, which is not required to follow the rules imposed on other sectors.
"Although it sounds like an unprecedented situation where some members would not be elected uncontested again, people in Macau still regard it as a game in which they have no chance to participate," said activist Sulu Sou Ka-hou of the pan-democrat group Macau Conscience.
The group protested outside polling stations to condemn the "small-circle election", handing out pamphlets printed with a big Chinese character for "ugly".