The Government expects a public consultation relating to the revision of the Legislative Assembly Election Law would be held some time between March and April.

The Government would strive to submit to the Legislative Assembly a bill for revision of the Legislative Assembly Election Law in July, said the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Chan Hoi Fan, on Thursday (18 February), after a committee meeting at the Legislative Assembly.

Suggested revisions would be based on findings contained in a report – published last December – on the fifth Legislative Assembly Election, said Ms Chan.

In particular, the suggested revisions would cover issues regarding how to enhance the competitiveness of the electoral process for those Legislative Assembly seats assigned to the indirect election system; and how to increase the overall fairness of the electoral process.

Ms Chan said the work on revision of the Legislative Assembly Election Law had to be concluded by the end of this year, given that the next election of the Legislative Assembly would be held in 2017.

Ms Chan also commented to reporters about a bill on Macao’s regional judicial cooperation with the mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The bill took into account the principle of double jeopardy; and also the need to respect Macao’s own legislation when handling requests for judicial cooperation from other jurisdictions, she said.

The Secretary said adherence to the principle of “One country, two systems” was an essential foundation of the judicial cooperation bill, a measure submitted to the Legislative Assembly last December.

Ms Chan also commented on the Government’s liaison with the committees of the Legislative Assembly regarding the analysis of proposed legislation. She said that the schedule for such work was dependent on rounds of discussion both with members of the Legislative Assembly’s relevant committees and with legal advisors. She added it was important that the Government made a thorough analysis of such matters.

The Government would maintain its effort to communicate effectively with the Legislative Assembly regarding legislative matters, she added.