The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election today published the definitive version of the general list of accepted candidate teams.

The list was published as no legal proceedings were filed against the Commission’s decision to dismiss an objection regarding the revised general list of candidate teams.

Following the publication of the list of accepted teams – and according to the Legislative Assembly Election Law – the Commission is to conduct a draw tomorrow to determine the order in which candidate teams will appear on the ballot paper.

The definitive version of the general list of accepted candidate teams confirms that a total of 25 teams, with an aggregate of 192 candidates, will contest the direct election for the Legislative Assembly. Six teams, with a total of 15 candidates, will contest the indirect election. Four of the five functional constituencies for the indirect election only have one ticket each running for election; two teams will contest the seats in the professional sector constituency. The direct and indirect elections will both be held on 17 September.

Starting from midnight today (2 August), accepted candidate teams will not be allowed to conduct promotional activities until the official campaign period begins on 2 September. The official campaign period runs from 2 to 15 September.

The Commission issued on Tuesday (1 August) its second election guideline – which is legally binding – to regulate campaign promotional activities. Any violation of the guideline might amount to a criminal offence.

The guideline, titled “2/CAEAL/2017”, requires the removal or deletion of any message or information – displayed in any public area and online platform – that aims to draw public attention to a particular candidate or candidates; as well as any message or information aimed at encouraging voters – in an explicit or implicit way – to vote or not vote for a particular candidate or candidates.

The guideline stipulates that trustees and candidates of each ticket, as well as trustees of nomination committees, must remove or delete any promotional material on or before midnight of 2 August.

The guideline also states that promotional messages used during the official campaigning period must be removed or deleted on or before midnight of 15 September – the beginning of the election cooling-off period, a day when campaigning is prohibited.

The Electoral Affairs Commission and the Commission Against Corruption held a meeting on Tuesday to explain the guideline to ticket trustees, candidates and trustees of nomination committees. A similar session will be held on Friday (4 August).

In addition, the Electoral Affairs Commission also had a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of local media outlets reporting in, respectively, Chinese, Portuguese and English language. The session aimed to ensure a fair and objective news coverage of the election process as required by the Legislative Assembly Election Law.