About one-fifth of the 400 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee are newcomers, according to the committee’s name list published in the Official Gazette (BO) Monday.
The committee will elect Macau’s next chief executive on August 25.
Observers widely expect outgoing Legislative Assembly (AL) President Ho Iat Seng to be elected by a large majority of the committee, which consists of 344 elected members, while the remainder are ex-officio members.
The 400-member committee includes 85 newcomers such as former secretary for economy and finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen.
Casino magnate Lawrence Ho Yau Lung also joined the committee for the first time in his capacity as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Ho, a son of nonagenarian gaming mogul Stanley Ho Hung Sun, heads Melco Resorts & Entertainment, one of Macau’s six gaming operators.
Currently, the committee has only 399 members as Ho Iat Seng has resigned from the National People’s Congress (NPC) so that he can run for chief executive. The alternate NPC deputy from Macau, local businessman Kevin Ho King Lun, has still to be appointed to the nation’s top legislature.
Observers expect this to happen in time before the August 25 chief executive election. According to the Macau Basic Law, all of Macau’s 12 NPC deputies are ex-officio members of the Chief Executive Election Committee.
Macau’s next chief executive will be sworn in on December 20. Observers expect President Xi Jinping to preside over the swearing-in of Macau’s new chief executive and other principal officials on that day. Xi is slated to pay an inspection visit to Macau at that time.(Macaunews)
