With less than a month left before the deadline for nominating candidates for the sixth-term chief executive (CE) election, Court of Final Appeal (TUI) President Sam Hou Fai told the local media yesterday that he was “considering” running in the election, adding that he would inform the public about his final decision.
Born in Guangdong in May 1962, Sam was admitted to the Peking University’s Law School in 1981 as the top scholar of liberal arts in Zhongshan city. After graduating from Law School, he worked as a lawyer in a foreign trade law firm in Guangzhou and moved to Macau in 1986. In 1990, Sam passed a government examination in Macau and went to Portugal as a legal talent to enrol in language, culture and law courses at the University of Coimbra. In 1993, upon his return from Portugal, he studied local law at the University of Macau (UM) and attended post-graduate legal and judicial affairs courses. In 1995, became a judicial auditor and one of Macau’s first local trainee judges. He was appointed president of the Court of Final Appeal on December 20, 1999, coinciding with the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
Apart from being Macau’s top judge, Sam chairs Macau’s council of judges, and he is a member of the Independent Commission for the Recommendation of Judges, a member of the Working Committee on Regional Legal Assistance and International Mutual Legal Assistance, as well as Honourable Chairman of the Macao Basic Law Promotional Association.
When asked by reporters on the sidelines of a seminar by the Macau Alumni Association of Peking University Law School at The Plaza Restaurant in Zape whether he intended to take part in the upcoming CE election, according to rumours reported by some local media, Sam first expressed his gratitude to the public for their concern and said: “The chief executive is a noble position to serve the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) and its residents,” adding that he has always had a desire to serve Macau.
Sam went on to say: “Regarding the question you [the media] raised just now, I am considering it and I will let you know if I have any further decision,” noting that some of his friends have encouraged him to “continue to contribute to Macau”.
The election for Macau’s new chief executive has been slated for October 13, while the nomination period for candidates in the election has been set to run from next Thursday to September 12.
With Wednesday’s announcement by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng that he will not seek a second term as chief executive due to health concerns, the 67-year-old will become the first Macau chief executive not to stand for re-election for a second five-year term, while his predecessors – Edmund Ho Hau Wah and Fernando Chui Sai On – both served their two five-year terms of office in 1999-2009 and 2009-2019 respectively. According to the Macau Basic Law, Macau’s chief executives can only serve two terms.
In the previous chief executive elections, except for the first election in 1999 in which Stanley Au Chong-kit lost to Edmund Ho Hau Wah, there was only one candidate.
The 400-member Chief Executive Election Committee will elect the MSAR’s sixth-term head on Sunday, October 13. By law, all elections in Macau are held on a Sunday.
A potential chief executive candidate requires the endorsement of at least 66 members of the 400 electors, or 16.5 percent of its members, to get his or her candidacy off the ground.
According to the MSAR Basic Law and the Chief Executive Election Law, the chief executive must be at least 40 years old at the end of the nomination period, be a permanent local resident, hold Chinese nationality, does not have the right of abode in a foreign country, and must have “habitually” lived in Macau for at least 20 years.
Court of Final Appeal (TUI) President Sam Hou Fai speaks to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s seminar by the Macau Alumni Association of Peking University Law School at The Plaza Restaurant in Zape. – Photo: MPDG
