90pc don't trust Macau leader, says 'referendum'

Macau chief executive Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on has suffered his first setback two days after being re-elected, with a so-called civil referendum finding that almost 90 per cent of residents do not trust him.

In the poll, organised by three pro-democracy groups, 7,762 Macau residents said they had no confidence in the sole candidate in the chief executive election. They represented 89 per cent of the 8,688 votes cast. Only 388 people - just under 5 per cent - said they trusted Chui, with 528 abstentions and 10 blank votes.

"This has shown that Macau residents are no longer staying silent and reluctantly accepting everything," said Sulu Sou Ka-hou, a key member of Macau Conscience, which organised the poll with Macau Youth Dynamics and Open Macau Society.

The results of the unofficial referendum, conducted from August 24 to Sunday, came after Chui won the one-horse race with 380 votes from the 400-strong election committee.

Sou said the result also proved that Chui's win would not help improve his credibility.

The organisers had earlier announced the results of another question asked in the poll, where 95 per cent of the voters - or 8,259 votes - were in favour of universal suffrage for the 2019 election.