André Cheong Weng Chon, a newcomer to the Legislative Assembly (AL) after serving as the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) secretary for administration and justice between December 20, 2019 and Wednesday, October 15, 2025, was elected by his peers as the legislature’s president unanimously yesterday.
Since the establishment of the MSAR on December 20, 1999, it is the first time that a newcomer to the legislature and an appointed lawmaker has been chosen by their peers as the hemicycle’s speaker. Previously, all presidents of the MSAR’s legislature were indirectly-elected legislators.
Cheong, 59, is one of the seven members whom Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai has appointed to the 33-member Legislative Assembly, which comprises 14 deputies directly elected by universal suffrage, 12 deputies indirectly elected by association representatives, and seven deputies appointed by the chief executive after the direct and indirect elections.
The new, eighth term of the MSAR’s Legislative Assembly started yesterday, October 16, 2025.
After the 2025 direct and indirect legislative elections took place on September 14, the government announced the list of the seven appointed legislators, including Cheong, on September 29. Since the establishment of the MSAR, it was the first time that a chief executive decided to appoint an incumbent policy secretary of the government to the Legislative Assembly.
It is also the first time that a lawmaker who is a former government official has been elected as the legislature’s president.
Cheong was elected as the hemicycle’s speaker during a plenary session yesterday afternoon. He garnered all of the 33 votes cast.
VP, first & second secretaries also elected unanimously
During yesterday’s plenary session in the hemicycle, indirectly-elected lawmaker Alan Ho Ion Sang was elected, also unanimously, as the legislature’s vice-president.
Indirectly-elected legislator Si Ka Lon was elected as the first secretary of the legislature’s executive board, while directly-elected lawmaker Ella Lei Cheng I was elected as its second secretary. Both were also elected unanimously.
The four-member executive board – the legislature’s top management body – consists of the legislature’s president (speaker), vice-president, first secretary and second secretary.
The fact that Cheong, Ho, Si and Lei all garnered all of the 33 votes cast meant that all of them voted for themselves.
Cheong, born in Beijing, had been the director of the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ) since 2000 until December 2014 when he became the commissioner against corruption for then chief executive Fernando Chui Sai On’s second-term administration. He was appointed as the secretary for administration and justice in December 2019 for then chief executive Ho Iat Seng’s first-term administration, and was reappointed in December last year for Sam’s current administration.
Ho, who had been a directly-elected lawmaker since 2009, became an indirectly-elected legislator four years ago representing the social services and educational sector. He was re-elected last month.
Alan Ho became the second secretary of the legislature’s executive board in August 2019 after the post had been left vacant, following Ho Iat Seng’s resignation from the hemicycle when he was the legislature’s president.
Alan Ho was the first secretary of the legislature’s executive board in the 2021-2025 term.
Cheong succeeds Kou Hoi In who has retired from the legislature, while Alan Ho succeeds Chui Sai Cheong who has also retired from the hemicycle.
Si had been a directly-elected lawmaker since 2013, but has become an indirectly-elected legislator representing the business sector in the current legislative term, which started yesterday.
Si was the second secretary of the legislature’s executive board in the 2021-2025 term.
Lei first became a lawmaker in 2013 through the indirect election representing the labour sector, before taking part in the direct election in 2017.
After Cheong’s election as the legislature’s president, he took his oath at the nearby Services Platform Complex for Commercial and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (aka Forum Macao Complex), overseen by Sam. The oath-taking ceremony for Cheong was attended by all of his fellow lawmakers, and government officials. Edmund Ho Hau Wah, Macau’s first chief executive and now a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), also attended the ceremony.
Liaison Office Director Zheng Xincong and Foreign Ministry Commissioner Liu Xianfa – the highest ranking central government officials posted to Macau – were also present.
After Cheong’s oath-taking ceremony, he and his fellow legislators returned to the legislature’s hemicycle for the new legislative term’s first plenary session. The elections of the vice-president, the first secretary and the second secretary of the legislature’s executive board took place after Cheong’s oath-taking ceremony.
Before Cheong was elected as the legislature’s president, the plenary session was chaired by the oldest member in the hemicycle, veteran lawmaker José Maria Pereira Coutinho.
Before the 33 members of the legislature attended yesterday afternoon’s plenary session in the hemicycle, they took their oaths overseen by Sam in the morning at the Forum Macao Complex.
Speaking to reporters after yesterday’s plenary session, Cheong pledged to strengthen positive interaction and communication between the executive and legislative organs.
Cheong also said that he aims to further improve the legislature’s work on legislation as well as on monitoring the government’s administration, pledging to ensure that bills to be passed by the legislature will better meet the needs, desires and expectations of Macau’s civil society.
Also speaking to the media, Alan Ho said that he expects the legislature, under Cheong’s leadership, to carry out its functions and duties better with the aim of making greater contributions to promoting Macau’s socioeconomic development and better integrating the city into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Also speaking to reporters, both Si and Lei pledged their full commitment to assisting Cheong and Ho to carry out the executive board’s duties.
Wong, Chan, Tong’s oath-taking
Meanwhile, Wong Sio Chak, Chan Tsz King, and Tong Hio Fong were sworn in by Sam yesterday as the secretary for administration and justice, the secretary for security, and the prosecutor-general (chief public prosecutor) of the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) respectively.
Their oath-taking ceremony was held at Government Headquarters in the morning.
Speaking to the media, Wong outlined four key tasks under his new role, namely continuing public administration reform and building efficient, service-orientated government; advancing a legal framework that aligns with the “One Country, Two Systems” principle and improving legislative coordination and quality; optimising municipal services and fostering a clean, more liveable urban environment; and advancing regional integration.
Speaking to reporters, Chan pledged full commitment to steadfastly safeguarding national security through implementing the holistic view of national security.
Chan said that the security team will pursue excellence through innovative approaches, ensuring that Macau remains a secure, stable, and law-governed city. He also said the government would continue to improve the legal system for safeguarding national security.
Also speaking to journalists, Tong said the Public Prosecutions Office will steadfastly adhere to the principle of the rule of law, enforce laws in a strictly impartial way, and further strengthen oversight of judicial processes, while enhancing judicial efficiency, with the aim of upholding the fairness and the authority of the law.
Newly-elected Legislative Assembly (AL) President André Cheong Weng Chon chairs yesterday afternoon’s plenary session during the elections of the legislature’s vice-president, first secretary and second secretary, following his election as the hemicycle’s speaker and oath-taking ceremony. – Photo: Tony Wong
Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai (second from right), as well as newly-appointed Secretary for Administration and Justice Wong Sio Chak (second from left), Secretary for Security Chan Tsz King (right), and Prosecutor-General Tong Hio Fong pose for a group photo after Wong, Chan and Tong were sworn in by Sam at Government Headquarters yesterday morning.– Photo: GCS
