Xinhua News Agency, Macau, September 12 (Reporters Liu Gang, Wang Aihua, Li Hanfang) The Macao Special Administrative Region held the election of the seventh Legislative Council on the 12th.

Election voting began at 9 o'clock on the same day and will end at 21 o'clock on the same day. It is expected that preliminary results will be announced in the early hours of the 13th.

　　The Seventh Legislative Council of the Macao Special Administrative Region is composed of 33 members. The election of the same day will produce 14 directly elected members and 12 indirectly elected members. The remaining 7 seats will be appointed by the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region within 15 days after receiving the general election results.

　　On that day, a total of 126 candidates from 14 candidate groups competed for 14 directly elected seats.

The 12 indirectly elected seats will be selected from a total of 12 candidates from the business and financial sectors, the labor sector, the professional sector, the social services and education sectors, and the culture and sports sectors.

　　At about 8:30 in the morning, the reporter saw at the polling place in the stadium of the Macau Polytechnic Institute that many voters had already queued up to enter the venue to vote.

　　The Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region He Yicheng voted at the polling station of Ciyou Middle School. When he was interviewed after the vote, he called on voters to vote enthusiastically.

He Yicheng stated that the Legislative Council exercises its power to supervise the government in accordance with the Basic Law, and hopes that members of the Council will promptly point out and criticize the government's poor work so that the government can improve its work.

　　In an interview, the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of the Macao Special Administrative Region Chen Zijin said that since the beginning of the election work, the ICAC has conducted about 8,000 inspections and the situation is satisfactory.

　　Different from previous elections, this election of the Macao SAR Legislative Council is under pressure to prevent and control the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

As early as the election campaign stage, the SAR government has adopted strict epidemic prevention measures to ensure the healthy and safe conduct of various campaign propaganda activities.

　　On the polling day, voters must wear a mask, take a temperature measurement and show a health code before entering the polling place. Disinfectants are provided at the entrance and exit of the polling place for voters to clean their hands; the polling place has reminders to keep social with others properly The identifier of the distance.

The Election Management Committee of the Legislative Council of the Special Administrative Region also urged voters to leave as soon as possible after voting to avoid crowds.

　　"This election is very well arranged and not very crowded. You don't have to wait for a long time." Macau citizen Ms. Li said after voting, hoping to elect members who speak for the public. There are more on medical, public housing and other issues. focus on.

　　Citizen Mr. Yu said that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has severely affected the economy of Macau, and hopes that the new congressmen will show the style of "patriots governing Macau" and bring a new look to the Legislative Council of the Macau Special Administrative Region.

　　The number of natural-person voters eligible to vote in the election of the seventh legislative council of the Macao Special Administrative Region was 325,180, an increase of 18,160 over the previous election.

The number of corporate voters is 813, which is less than the previous 858.

　　The number of fixed polling places for this election is the same as the previous one. There are 36 places for direct elections and 37 polling stations in total; for indirect elections, there is 1 polling place with 5 polling stations.

To ensure that voters undergoing medical observation at designated hotels can exercise their right to vote, three mobile polling stations have been specially set up.

　　Tang Xiaofeng, chairman of the EAC of the Legislative Council of the Macao Special Administrative Region, said that the relevant computer systems have been optimized for this election and the training of vote-checkers has also been increased. It is believed that the preliminary results of the vote will be announced earlier than the previous election.