Former Legislative Assembly (AL) president Ho Iat Seng’s election as Macau’s third chief executive next month is a fait accompli, considering that he has secured the backing of 94.5 percent of the 400 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee.
This also means that he will be the only candidate, as a rival candidate would require at least 66 nominations, or 16.5 percent, from the members of the election committee.
Ho told reporters yesterday that he had just submitted 378 nominations to the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Chief Executive Election. As announced by his support team on Friday, Ho went to the commission at 1:30 p.m.
Ho, who announced his decision in April to run for the city’s top job, and his support team arrived at the Electoral Information Centre on the ground floor of the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo to submit his nomination forms.
Anyone interested in running for chief executive may personally or through a designated representative pick up the nomination forms at the Electoral Information Centre and return them to the centre until this evening.
Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission President Song Man Lei said on Friday that 13 local residents plan to run in next month’s chief executive election and have picked up nomination forms.
According to the Chief Executive Election Law, precandidates must obtain at least 66 nominations from the 400 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee to become a formal candidate able to run in the election. After Ho obtained 378 nominations it means that no other hopefuls are able obtain enough nominations to qualify as a candidate.
In the 4th chief executive election in 2014, Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On was also the only candidate and obtained 331 nominations from the electors, or 82.7 percent of the total, thereby easily winning a second five-year term.
Former Legislative Assembly (AL) president Ho Iat Seng (second from right) hands his nomination forms to Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) Vice-Director Joana Maria Noronha (centre) while lawmaker-cum-law associate professor Iau Teng Pio (right), Macau Industrial Association Chairman António Chui Yuk Lum (second from left) and former lawmaker-cum-unionist Lam Heong Sang pose at the Electoral Information Centre on the ground floor of the Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo yesterday. Photo: Rachel Lei
High-profile protester Hoi Weng Chong (right), widely known in Cantonese as “the Man in Red”, hands a petition to a representative of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Chief Executive Election outside Public Administration Building in Rua do Campo yesterday. Photo: Rachel Lei
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