Macau Legislative Assembly
| Macau Coat of Arms | Legislative Assembly Building |
|---|---|
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| Basic data | |
| Seat: |
Sé , Macau
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| Legislative period : | 4 years |
| First session: | 1999 |
| MPs: | 33 |
| Current legislative period | |
| Last choice: | 17th September 2017 |
| Next choice: | expected in 2021 |
| Chair: | Kou Hoi In ( OMKC ) |
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| Distribution of seats: |
Pro-democracy camp |
| Website | |
| al.gov.mo | |
The Legislative Assembly of Macau ( Portuguese Assembleia Legislativa de Macau , Chinese 澳門 立法 會 , Pinyin Àomén Lìfǎ Huì , Jyutping Ou 3 mun 2 laap 6 faat 3 wui 5 ) is the parliament and thus the legislature of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China . In accordance with the Joint Declaration on the Macau Question , the citizens of Macau also have the right to decide, with regard to the legislature, fully independently on matters relating to their territory. De facto , however, the citizens of Macau can only actively participate in legislation through the 14 directly elected seats .
history
The history of parliamentary organs in Macau goes back a long way; the Legislative Council met in the Leal Senado building as early as 1784 . Under the policy of the Estado Novo , the Legislative Council continued to exist, the chairman of which was the Governor , who himself had legislative power and the Legislative Council accordingly had a weak position. After an administrative reform in 1972, the Legislative Council was renamed the Legislative Assembly; Until the Portuguese Revolution in 1976 , the Legislative Assembly consisted of the governor, a governor-appointed representative of the Chinese people , eight indirectly elected lobbyists whose functions were roughly equivalent to those of today's functional constituencies, and five directly elected MPs. Democratic conditions did not prevail during the time of the Estado Novo, however, despite directly elected MPs, since the National Union was the only approved party and only Portuguese and Macanese were allowed to vote, although the Chinese made up the majority of the population.
After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the existing Legislative Assembly was suspended and an advisory board was established to support the governor in his work. The Executive Council of Macau emerged from this advisory board in 1999 , which today forms the Macau government with the Prime Minister of Macau .
From 1976 onwards, the governor's power was somewhat restricted with the reintroduction of the Legislative Assembly, although the parliament still remained in a rather weak position to this day. This 17-seat parliament consisted of six directly elected members. In the first election in 1976, all registered citizens aged 21 and over were allowed to participate. For the first time, the majority of the Chinese population was able to participate in politics, although the majority of the registered citizens initially remained Portuguese and Macanese. In 1984 the right to vote was changed so that all residents aged 18 and over could vote in the elections. In addition, tax benefits have encouraged more residents to register. As a result, the majority of the Chinese population dominated political events more and more.
In the following legislative periods , the total number of MPs changed and the ratio between directly elected MPs, MPs appointed by the governor and MPs indirectly elected in functional constituencies shifted several times. In the last election under Portuguese sovereignty in 1996, the members of the 6th legislative term were elected. With the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999, the previously elected MPs remained in office until 2001 when the first election took place under Chinese sovereignty. The calculation of the legislative periods was restarted with the handover in 1999. Although the MPs remained largely the same, the legislative period from 1996 to 1999 was called the sixth legislative period (under Portuguese sovereignty) and from 1999 to 2001 the first legislative period (under Chinese sovereignty) . With the handover in 1999, there was a change among the MPs, on the one hand with the departure of Edmund Ho , who became Macau's first head of government - his seat was reassigned in a by-election in 1999 - and on the other hand in the form of newly appointed MPs, since the governorship was no longer applicable and the office of Prime Minister Macau was created; Macau's head of government was able to appoint new MPs after the governor’s appointed MPs with the governorship ceased to exist. Another change came with the handover in 1999 in the form of a new Speaker of Parliament .
Since the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999, the total number of MPs has increased several times and the ratio between directly elected MPs, MPs appointed by the governor and MPs elected indirectly in functional constituencies has shifted several times.
composition
Electoral system
Since the fifth legislative term after the 2013 parliamentary elections , the Legislative Assembly has 33 seats. 14 seats will be distributed to the lists in a proportional representation , there is no threshold clause . The data are collected for the three constituencies of the Macau Peninsula, Taipa and Coloane ; In the 2017 parliamentary elections , three parties ran with two electoral lists each. A further 12 seats are elected via so-called functional constituencies, through which certain professional and social groups are represented. The remaining seven seats are appointed by the Prime Minister of Macau .
Functional constituencies
As in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong , MPs are also elected in functional constituencies in Macau. The reason for the introduction of functional constituencies is a guaranteed representation of different professional or social groups. However, the representation of different groups is no guarantee of balance, so in the functional constituency of the entrepreneurial sector four seats are allocated, while in the functional constituency of the workers sector only two seats are allocated. The entrepreneurial sector is thus represented above average. Within a functional constituency, selected people from the professional or social group, who usually represent organizations or companies, are entitled to vote . In the 2017 general election, 18,854 voters in functional constituencies were eligible to vote as individuals, and 857 votes were in organizations as collective voters. In a functional constituency, representatives of the professional or social group can be set up with electoral lists . There should be as many candidates on an electoral list as there are seats in the relevant functional constituency. De facto, there is exactly one established interest group for each professional or social group, which draws up the only electoral list in a constituency so that the people on the electoral list can enter the legislative assembly without competition. In the 2017 parliamentary election, there was actually an election in the functional constituency of the professional sector 1 , as the União dos Interesses de Medicina de Macau competed against the established União dos Interesses Profissionais de Macau and was able to win one of the three seats.
| Professional or social group | Advocacy groups | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneurial Sector | 4th | |
| Workers sector | 2 | |
| Professional sector 1 | 3 | |
| Social service and education | 1 | |
| Culture and sport | 2 |
Securing power of the pro-Beijing camp through the electoral system
All interest groups in the functional constituencies are considered part of the pro-Beijing camp . By selecting those eligible to vote in the functional constituencies via companies or organizations, a majority of those eligible to vote, bordering on the total, are well-off and belong to the establishment that supports the China-loyal attitude of the Macau government and thus belongs to the pro-Beijing camp. Through the indirect elections , the functional constituencies are undermining the political influence of the citizens of Macau and securing the power of the pro-Beijing camp, if several interest groups are running in a functional constituency. Due to the 12 seats that are elected in functional constituencies, in connection with the 7 seats allocated by the Macau head of government, the citizens of Macau can actually freely choose only a minority of the 33 total seats with 14 directly elected seats.
Change of the electoral system
In order to modify the electoral system or the composition of the Legislative Assembly of Macau, a two-thirds majority in the Legislative Assembly is necessary. In addition, the Prime Minister of Macau must approve the change and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress must be informed of the change.
Current composition
The following table provides an overview of the electoral procedures through which the individual parties or interest groups or politicians without a party entered the Legislative Assembly of Macau. In the columns to the right of the party breakdown, there is also a summary of the parties, interest groups and politicians without a party to the two political camps or, since the parliamentary election 2017, to the group of independents, which are neither the pro-Beijing nor the pro-democracy camp Feel firmly attached, but see yourself in the political middle between the two camps. The table data refer to the current status after the 2017 parliamentary elections.
| Electoral process | Constituency | Party 2 | Party seats 2 | Political camp | Bearing seats | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Functional constituencies | Entrepreneurial Sector | OMKC | 4th | Pro-Beijing warehouse | 28 | 33 |
| Workers sector | CCCAE | 2 | ||||
| Culture and sport | União Excelente | 2 | ||||
| Professional sector 1 | OMCY | 2 | ||||
| UIMM | 1 | |||||
| Social service and education | APSSE | 1 | ||||
| Appointed by the head of government | independent | 7th | ||||
| Direct proportional representation | ACUM 3 | 2 | ||||
| UMG | 2 | |||||
| UPD | 2 | |||||
| UPP | 1 | |||||
| NUDM | 1 | |||||
| OJ | 1 | |||||
| Cívico | 1 | Centrists | 1 | |||
| IDCM 4 | 2 | Pro-democracy camp | 4th | |||
| NE | 1 | |||||
| ANM 5 | 1 | |||||
Historical composition
The historical compositions of the Legislative Assembly of Macau include all legislative periods since the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999. From a formal point of view, the first legislative period did not begin with the parliamentary elections in 1996 , but only with the handover to the People's Republic of China in 1999. The total number of seats increased from 23 to 33 seats from the first to the sixth legislative period today . In all legislative periods, the pro-Beijing camp had a secure two-thirds majority in parliament, the pro-democracy camp never had more than four seats. The pro-democracy camp had the highest share of seats with 13.79 percent in the fourth legislative period after the 2009 parliamentary election with four to 25 seats. In the parliamentary elections, the Observatório Cívico party also got a seat, whose only MP pulls herself between the two camps as a centrist .
| Legislative period | choice | majority | Majority seats | Majority type | minority | Minority seats | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996 | Pro-Beijing warehouse | 22nd | Two-thirds majority | Pro-democracy camp | 1 | 23 |
| 2 | 2001 | Pro-Beijing warehouse | 25th | Two-thirds majority | Pro-democracy camp | 2 | 27 |
| 3 | 2005 | Pro-Beijing warehouse | 26th | Two-thirds majority | Pro-democracy camp | 3 | 29 |
| 4th | 2009 | Pro-Beijing warehouse | 25th | Two-thirds majority | Pro-democracy camp | 4th | 29 |
| 5 | 2013 | Pro-Beijing warehouse | 29 | Two-thirds majority | Pro-democracy camp | 4th | 33 |
| 6th | 2017 | Pro-Beijing warehouse | 28 | Two-thirds majority | Pro-democracy camp | 4th | 33 |
| Centrists | 1 |
Development of the functional constituencies
The functional constituencies for the business sector and the workers' sector have existed since the first legislative period after the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999. Since then, four and two MPs have been elected in each of the two functional constituencies. The functional constituency for the professional sector 1 has also existed since 1999; however, the number of seats allocated in this constituency has changed since then. In the second legislative period after the 2001 parliamentary elections , the number of seats was increased from one to two. Since the fifth legislative period after the 2013 parliamentary election , three seats have been allocated in the constituency. Until the fourth legislative term after the 2009 general election, there was a functional constituency for social services, culture , education and sport , which occupied two seats in the Legislative Assembly of Macau. In the first legislative term after the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999, only one MP was elected in this functional constituency. For the 2013 parliamentary election, which started the fifth legislative period, the functional constituency was split into a two-seat constituency for culture and sport and a one-seat constituency for social services and education.
Thus, in the first legislative term, there were only eight functional constituencies in the Macau Legislative Assembly, while in the second legislative term the number increased by an increase in the functional constituencies for social services, culture, education and sport and for the professional sector increased one seat, increasing the total number of MPs elected in functional constituencies from eight to ten. A second increase in the total took place from the fifth legislative term. The functional constituency of the professional sector received one more seat. In addition, by dividing the constituency for social services, culture, education and sport with two seats into two functional constituencies with two or one seat each, the total number was increased again by one seat, so that the total number of MPs elected in functional constituencies rose from ten to twelve .
tasks
The main task of the Legislative Assembly of Macau is laws to adopt, modify, or discontinue or cancel. Bills can be proposed by the Macau government or members of parliament. The Legislative Assembly must also review and approve the budget of the Macau government. It is also the duty of Parliament to approve tax collections and the debt of the Macau government. In the legislative constitution, among other things, political speeches by the Prime Minister of Macau and questions related to public interests - daily politics - are debated. Complaints from citizens in the Macau Special Administrative Region should also be accepted and discussed by the parliament as the representative of the people. At this point it is among other things the task of the interest groups of the professional and social groups to bring complaints from the specific population groups into the parliament.
Unlike in parliamentary systems of government , the government or the head of government is not elected by parliament, but is determined by an election committee, as in Hong Kong. However, since 2009 the Legislative Assembly has also been authorized to modify its own electoral system . A two-thirds majority is necessary for this. The electoral system of Macau's head of government can also be changed with a two-thirds majority; for example, universal suffrage for Macau's head of government could be introduced so that every citizen in Macau can elect the head of government. However, given the weak pro-democracy camp, this is unlikely.
Another possibility of influencing the Prime Minister of Macau is the authorization of the parliament to convene an independent investigation committee by the chairman of the Appellate Court of Macau, which is to investigate possible violations of the law of the Prime Minister Macau. One third of Parliament must approve the request to set up such a committee of inquiry. Once the evidence has been gathered, the application for deposition against the Prime Minister of Macau can be submitted to the Chinese government with a two-thirds majority .
The Macau Legislative Assembly can be dissolved by the Macau Prime Minister after Parliament has rejected a government proposal or budget, or after Macau’s Prime Minister refuses to sign a law signed by Parliament even after a second approval by a two-thirds majority. A head of government may only dissolve parliament in one term of office .
Parliament building
The building of the Legislative Assembly of Macau ( Portuguese Prédio da Assembleia de Macau , Chinese澳門 立法 會 大樓) houses not only the parliament but also offices of the Macau government . Construction of the building began in 1998 and was completed in 1999. Since then, Parliament no longer meets in the Leal Senado building , but in today's new building, which is located directly on Lake Nam Van in the Sé district on the Macau peninsula. The court of appeal is located right next to the parliament building .
President of Parliament
The Macau Legislative Assembly is presided over by the Speaker of Parliament , who presides over the sessions of the Legislative Assembly. He is elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly in each legislative period. Ho Iat Seng of the União dos Interesses Empresariais de Macau has been President of Parliament since the fifth legislative term after the 2013 general election.
Previous Speaker of Parliament
| Legislative period | choice | Official | Party 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996 8 | Susana Chou | OMKC |
| 2 | 2001 | ||
| 3 | 2005 | ||
| 4th | 2009 | Lau Cheok Vá | CCCAE |
| 5 | 2013 | Ho Iat Seng | OMKC |
| 6th | 2017 | ||
| 9 | Kou Hoi In | OMKC |
See also
Web links
- Macau Legislative Assembly website (Portuguese, Chinese, English)
- Breakdown of the seat allocation process (Portuguese, Chinese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 頁面 未 找到 | 澳門 公共 圖書館. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ^ Revista Macau. May 18, 2008, accessed November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ a b IO Internet Team: Imprensa Oficial - Decreto-Lei n.º 4/76 / M. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ IO Internet Team: Imprensa Oficial - Portaria n.º 258/99 / M. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ^ A Larger Assembly . In: Macao Magazine . July 17, 2013 ( macaomagazine.net [accessed November 27, 2018]).
- ↑ Estatísticas de votação por area de votação. Retrieved November 27, 2018 (Portuguese).
- ^ IO Internet Team: Imprensa Oficial - Proclamação. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Eleições para a Assembleia Legislativa - 2017 Lista de candidatura e Bases do programa político. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Mandatos atribuídos a cada lista de candidatura. Retrieved November 27, 2019 (Portuguese).
- ↑ IO Internet Team: Lei Básica da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ IO Internet Team: Lei Básica da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Eleições | Agnes Lam diz estar entre democratas e campo tradicional - Hoje Macau. Retrieved November 27, 2018 (European Portuguese).
- ^ Eleitorais para a Assembleia Legislativa da RAEM. March 4, 2016, accessed November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ IO Internet Team: Lei Básica da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ IO Internet Team: Lei Básica da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ assembleia legislativa 1. Accessed November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Macau | Ho Iat Seng has the edge over other possible candidates for Chief Executive - Political commentators | Macau Business . In: Macau Business . September 11, 2018 ( macaubusiness.com [accessed November 27, 2018]).