Public prosecutors in Macao charged 22 people with crimes relating to vote-rigging last week, according to an official statement issued on Friday.

The statement, released by the Public Prosecution Office, said they were involved in "an electoral fraud scheme" that included the illegal retention of voter registration cards.

The statement described the suspects' activities as "having seriously infringed the fairness and order of the elections" to its legislature that took place on September 25.

According to a Xinhua News Agency report on October 5, 14 suspects were also charged in Macao in a separate case involving similar crimes on Tuesday.

Details of their cases won't be released to the public until the date of court session.   

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2005)