The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election says Sunday’s polling went smoothly, although two polling stations for the direct election had rather long queues of voters for a short time in the morning.

At a briefing after polling closed, the Commission Chairman, Mr Tong Hio Fong, said there were about 174,000 ballots cast for the direct election, representing a voter turnout rate of approximately 57 percent.

In the indirect election, a total of 5,550 people voted, representing a turnout of eligible voters amounting to 91 percent.

All 42 polling stations for the direct and indirect elections closed at 9pm, at which point the vote count began.

Currently, a count of votes is occurring at each polling centre. Mr Tong expressed his gratitude to staff at polling stations for their effort on election day.

The Commission had identified today a total of 22 cases of possible violation of Macao’s election law, including 15 reported instances of voters taking photographs of ballot papers. The Commission and the police would analyse such reports more closely, to try to understand why such instances might have occurred, notwithstanding the Commission’s intensified effort regarding education of the public in such matters.

Regarding the ban on campaigning activities encompassing Saturday and Sunday, Mr Tong said the Commission had transferred 12 reports of such activity – involving seven election teams – to the police, for further investigation.