CHUI SAI-ON was elected the fourth-term chief executive-designate of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) yesterday, pending for the approval by the Central Government.

    The incumbent Chief Executive Chui won 380 votes from the 396 Election Committee members, who attended the voting, winning the election with 95.96 percent of all votes, higher than the 95.27 percent in the previous ballot.

    The Election Committee comprises 400 members, an increase from 300 members of previous election.

    According to the selection method, voting is only legitimate upon the attendance of two-thirds of the total 400 Election Committee members, and a candidate must obtain votes from more than half of the members present to secure the seat.

    As the sole candidate of the election for the fourth-term chief executive of the Macao SAR, Chui’s current tenure ends Dec. 19. He announced his campaign for re-election July 15.

    According to the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, the chief executive, with a five-year tenure for each term, shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee in accordance with the law and appointed by the Central Government.

    Delivering his five-minute victory speech, Chui vowed to raise the local workforce’s competitiveness and take ecological concerns into account when planning the city’s development.

    (Xinhua)

    Chui said at a press conference after the election that winning the election is the start to embrace new challenges for Macao as well as to implement his election declaration. He pledged to fullydevote himself to conducting the principle of “One Country, Two Systems,” while improving people’s livelihood in Macao.

    An official from the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR said the chief executive election was the first such since the central government settled Macao’s constitutional development in 2012.

    The official said during the election process, the chief executive candidate has listened to the opinions of different sectors from the society, and received active response from the public, reflecting the successful implementation of the Basic Law of the Macao SAR and the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.

    The official believes that Chui will lead Macao people to seizethe opportunities and tackle the challenges to usher in a brighterfuture for Macao with the support from the central government.

    Meanwhile, on behalf of the Hong Kong SAR government, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying expressed congratulations on Chui’s winning of the election, adding Chui has always been serving Macao citizens wholeheartedly.

    Leung said Hong Kong and Macao remain close cooperation, and should continue the mutual support to cement the prosperity and stability in the two regions as well as in the whole Pearl River Delta region.

    Born in Macao in 1957, Chui holds a bachelor’s degree in Community Health from California State University, and a master’s degree and PhD of Public Health from the University of Oklahoma. He has served as the third-term chief executive of the Macao SAR since 2009. Enditem2014/08/31 17:15