The President of the fifth Legislative Assembly, along with other principal officials of the Macao Special Administrative Region, urged registered voters to fulfil their civic duty and cast their respective vote.

The President of the fifth Legislative Assembly, Mr Ho Iat Sang, said he hoped members of the new Assembly would fulfil their duties in supervising the Government and working to refine the city’s legislation.

Mr Ho said he was looking forward to seeing some new faces in the Legislative Assembly assisting the body’s work.

The livelihood of Macao people would be an issue of concern to all in the sixth Assembly, in particular how to resolve issues relating to housing, transport, healthcare, education and economic development in order to maintain Macao’s social stability and the wellbeing of its people, he stated.

Mr Ho said the most important thing for new Assembly members to understand was the need to work in a rational manner, and not to violate the Assembly’s procedural rules.

Voting this morning at the Macao Polytechnic Institute polling centre, a venue with polling stations for the direct and indirect elections, Mr Ho noted such a two-in-one arrangement was convenient for the voters and helped to ease vehicle traffic that could sometimes build up at peak times at polling centres. He hoped such an arrangement would be continued at future elections.

The President of the Court of Final Appeal, Mr Sam Hou Fai, urged registered voters to exercise their right to vote, electing to the Assembly members that voters considered would strive for the development of Macao.

Mr Sam made the comments after he cast his vote at the Instituto Salesiano polling centre. He said he was impressed to see so many voters – particularly those with personal mobility difficulties or who were senior citizens – coming out to vote for their preferred candidates for the Legislative Assembly.

The Court of Final Appeal had not received so far any notice of cases alleging corruption in connection with the election, said Mr Sam, adding that, were any cases to be passed to the court, that would happen only after they had been thoroughly investigated and analysed by the competent authorities.

Casting his vote at the Macau Forum polling station, the Commissioner of Audit, Mr Ho Veng On, urged voters to exercise their right to cast a ballot for their preferred ticket in the Legislative Assembly election, in order to ensure the Assembly represented the views of the local community.

The Public Prosecutor-General, Mr Ip Son Sang, spoke highly of the work of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly election and of the Commission Against Corruption in ensuring the election had been taking place in an orderly and lawful manner.

Mr Ip made the comments this afternoon after casting his vote at the Olympic Sports Centre in Taipa. He said that, as of 15 September, the Public Prosecutions Office had received notice of 14 election-linked cases, mostly relating to alleged violation of campaigning rules.

The Commissioner-General of the Unitary Police Service, Mr Ma Io Kun, told the press that there were 2,000 inspections – jointly by the police, the Fire Services Bureau and the Macao Customs Service – conducted near all the polling centres, in order to ensure public order on election day.

He added all personnel from those departments were working shifts designed to ensure they had time to cast their respective vote.

The Director-General of the Macao Customs Service, Mr Vong Iao Lek, encouraged registered voters to come out and cast their ballot and thus fulfil their civic duty.

Mr Vong told reporters after casting his vote at the Macau Forum polling centre that voting procedures were very simple and that it had taken only five minutes to cast his vote.