Commentary: Common understanding of "patriots administering Macao" invigorates SAR's development

MACAO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), which took place smoothly on Sunday, proved to be a major practice of democracy fully implementing the principle of "patriots administering Macao."

A total of 14 candidates won the directly-elected seats while 12 bagged the indirectly-elected seats.

These legislators, elected by Macao residents, enjoy wide public support. They will help further enhance the common understanding of "patriots administering Macao" within the Macao society, invigorate the SAR's development, and lay a solid foundation for the steady and sustained implementation of "one country, two systems" with Macao characteristics.

In fact, the principle of administering Macao in accordance with the law was upheld throughout this election. The SAR government organized the election in line with the law to ensure it goes in an orderly and safe manner, while the electoral affairs commission and the Court of Final Appeal performed their duties to ensure that only patriots were allowed to contest in the election, safeguarding the constitutional order stipulated by the Constitution of People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the Macao SAR.

In addition, the candidates campaigned actively in accordance with the law. Macao residents cherished their votes and exercised their democratic rights endowed by the Macao SAR Basic Law.

In a nutshell, the election demonstrated fairness, solidarity, openness and integrity.

The candidates of different parties represented the various social classes and groups of the Macao society, with some new forces springing up. There was no lack of criticisms and dissuasion on social malpractices and governance deficiencies.

Despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the election campaign went in full swing through various online and offline channels, and it was also widely covered by local media. The anti-corruption authority worked actively to ensure transparency and fairness of the election.

Implementation of the "patriots administering Macao" principle in this Legislative Assembly election further demonstrated Macao's tradition of patriotic ethos across various circles of the society.

There is reason to believe that the newly elected legislators will be able to better shoulder the social responsibilities of pooling public wisdom, representing public opinion, supervising governance and protecting public interests, so as to better facilitate communication between the government and the public and inject strong momentum for building a better Macao.

The legislators should also cherish the hard-won achievements of the election, fully and accurately implement the principle of "one country, two systems" and perform their duties endowed by the Basic Law of the Macao SAR.

The practice of "one country, two systems" in Macao is facing a rare historic opportunity. The Chinese central authorities' series of policies, including the general plan made public earlier this month for building the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin, provide vast space for Macao to be better integrated into overall national development.

The newly elected legislators should avail themselves of the chance to actively offer suggestions, support and supervision to the SAR government, and write new chapters in the practice of "one country, two systems" with Macao characteristics.