The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) announced in a statement yesterday that all of the 348 permanent residents who registered to run in next month’s election of the Chief Executive Election Committee members, where 344 seats of its 400 members will be up for grabs, have been accepted as eligible candidates.
The statement said that a full list of the accepted candidates will be announced today, when the list will be posted on the ground floor of the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo and uploaded onto the chief executive election’s website (https://www.ece.gov.mo).
The registration period ran from June 18 to July 2.
Before the registration’s deadline, a total of 348 permanent residents had registered for candidates.
Yesterday’s statement said that all the 348 have been accepted, meaning that the number of candidates will only exceed the number of seats available by four.
The election of the chief executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) is held every five years. The head of the MSAR is elected by the 400-member Chief Executive Election Committee.
Current Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng’s five-year term at the helm of the MSAR government ends on December 19 this year. Ho, 67, has still to announce whether he intends to run for a new five-year term.
According to Article 48 the MSAR Basic Law, the chief executive of the MSAR may serve for not more than two consecutive terms.
Ho is currently on a 29-day holiday, his first long holiday since assuming office nearly five years ago. Informed sources have told the Post that he will announce his candidacy for his second and constitutionally final five-year consecutive term “in due course”.
This year’s election of the Chief Executive Election Committee members will be held on August 11.
The chief executive election is expected to be held in October at the earliest.
According to yesterday’s statement, the educational and labour segments on the Chief Executive Election Committee are the only ones where the number of seats available and the number of candidates are not identical, while the number of seats available and the number of candidates are the same in all other segments, namely the first sector (comprising the industrial, commercial and financial segments), the cultural segment, the professional segment, the sports segment, and the social services segment.
