The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election is to conduct a draw tomorrow (16 August) to determine the order in which each candidate team will be able to use television and radio airtime of the Teledifusao de Macau (TDM) for the purposes of electioneering.

The Commission will also conduct a draw to determine the order in which teams will be allowed to use designated public venues for their respective promotional activities.

The Executive Order No. 265/2017 was published in the Macao SAR Gazette on Monday (14 August), specifying rules for airing election publicity via television and radio channels operated by TDM.

The Executive Order stipulates that each election team – that is contesting either the direct or indirect election – will have an aggregate of 12 airtime slots on TDM’s Chinese-language television channel. The first 11 slots will each last two minutes, and the final slot will be one minute in length. The Portuguese-language television channel will have eight slots for each team: the first seven sessions will last two minutes, and the final slot will be one minute in length.

For TDM’s Chinese-language radio channel, there will be an aggregate of 33 one-minute airtime slots per election team. The Portuguese-language radio channel will have 21 one-minute slots per election team.

According to the Executive Order, the final airtime slots – for television and radio channels – are to be broadcast on 15 September, that being the last day of the two-week campaign period.

On election day, 17 September, there will be 25 teams – with an aggregate of 192 candidates – contesting the direct election for the Legislative Assembly, and six teams – with a total of 15 candidates – contesting the indirect election.