The State Council has appointed Sam Hou Fai as the sixth-term chief executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), according to a Xinhua report on Friday.
Sam was elected Macau’s next chief executive on October 13 when he garnered 394 of the 398 votes cast by the special administrative region’s 400-member Chief Executive Election Committee, or 98.99 percent of the ballots cast, with two electors absent. There were four blank and no invalid votes. Sam was the election’s sole candidate.
Sam’s tenure will start on December 20, 2024, when he will be formally installed, according to a decision made during the 6th plenary meeting of the State Council in Beijing, presided over by Premier Li Qiang on Friday.
The October 13 chief executive election result validated by Macau’s Court of Final Appeal (TUI) was published in the Official Gazette (BO) on Monday last week, confirming Sam as chief executive-elect.
The Xinhua report said that Friday’s State Council plenary meeting reviewed a report from the Macau government on Sam’s election as the sixth-term chief executive of the MSAR, and also heard a report on the sixth-term chief executive election from Xia Baolong, the director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO).
In accordance with the MSAR Basic Law, the meeting decided to appoint Sam as the MSAR’s sixth-term chief executive, the report said.
According to the Xinhua report, Li said during the meeting that over the past 25 years since Macau’s return to the motherland, the “One Country, Two Systems” principle has been comprehensively and accurately implemented, the city has enjoyed rapid economic development and maintained social stability, and its population’s well-being has been continuously improving, creating the best development situation in Macau’s history.
Full support
Li pledged that the Central People’s Government will continue to comprehensively, accurately and unswervingly implement the principles of “One Country, Two Systems”, “Macau people governing Macau”, and the MSAR’s high degree of autonomy, the report said.
During the meeting, according to the report, the premier also pledged that the Central People’s Government will fully support the chief executive and the MSAR government in exercising law-based administration, breaking new ground while upholding fundamental principles, shouldering responsibilities, and creating a new landscape for the successful implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle with Macau characteristics.
The central government will continue to support Macau in integrating itself into, and contributing to the nation’s overall development by leveraging its unique advantages, Li said.
According to the report, Li also pledged that the Central People’s Government will continue to support the chief executive and local government in safeguarding national security, promote Macau’s appropriate economic diversification, continuously improve the population’s well-being, and fostering social harmony and stability, enabling the joint development and prosperity of Macau and the mainland.
According to another Xinhua report on Friday, Li also signed a State Council decree on Friday appointing Sam as the MSAR’s sixth-term chief executive.
With effect from Friday’s official appointment by the State Council, Sam is Macau’s chief executive-designate until his swearing-in by one of the most senior leaders of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on December 20, coinciding with the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the MSAR.
Until Friday’s appointment, Sam, 62, was Macau’s chief executive-elect.
Current Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, 67, announced in August that for health reasons he was not seeking a second five-year term.
Macau’s chief executives can serve a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms.
Since the establishment of the MSAR on December 20, 1999, Sam had headed the Court of Final Appeal for nearly 25 years until late August when he resigned as the MSAR’s top judge so that he could run for chief executive.
Sam will be the MSAR’s fourth chief executive, after Edmund Ho Hau Wah, Fernando Chui Sai On and Ho Iat Seng. The first two served two terms each.
Sam Hou Fai, then chief executive-elect and now chief executive-designate, addresses a press conference at the Forum Macao Complex on October 13 following his election as Macau’s sixth-term and fourth chief executive. – Photo: Tony Wong
