Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has appointed seven members to the 7th Legislative Assembly, including three newcomers to the legislature’s hemicycle, according to an executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday. Four were reappointed.
The seven appointed lawmakers, all of them males, are businessman Ma Chi Seng (reappointed), born in June 1978; legal scholar Iau Teng Pio (reappointed), born in April 1964, assistant dean of the University of Macau’s (UM) Faculty of Law; academic Pang Chuan (reappointed), born in June 1971, vice-rector of the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST); engineer Wu Chou Kit (reappointed), born in December 1968, chairman of the Macau Institution of Engineers; educator Kou Kam Fai, born in October 1964, principal of Pui Ching Middle School; arts scholar Chan Hou Seng, born in October 1962; and hotel executive Cheung Kin Chung, born in November 1971, general manager of Macau CTS Hotel Management, according to data provided by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) yesterday.
Three appointed members of the outgoing legislature – lawyer Chan Wa Keong, UM academic and gaming industry researcher Davis Fong Ka Chio, and UM academic and senior administrative officer Lao Chi Ngai – were not reappointed.
According to Annex II of the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), the Legislative Assembly comprises 33 members, of whom 14 are directly elected by universal suffrage, 12 indirectly elected by association representatives, and seven are appointed by the chief executive.
The direct and indirect elections took place on September 12. The next four-year legislative term begins in the middle of next month.
Article 2 of the Legislative Assembly Election Law states that the chief executive shall appoint seven lawmakers by executive order within 15 days after receiving the official audit of the Legislative Assembly election. The audit verified the election results on September 14. Macau’s top court, the three-judge Court of Final Appeal (TUI), confirmed the election results on Tuesday.
According to Article 68 of the MSAR Basic Law, the majority of the members of the local legislature “shall be elected.”
The elected and appointed lawmakers must be permanent residents, but irrespective of their nationality.
