Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On will announce this morning that he will seek re-election, veteran lawmaker Vong Hin Fai said Monday.
Chui has chosen Vong as his “mandatary” once again. In a Portuguese-style election process, a “mandatary” is the legal representative of a candidate.
He said that Chui, 57, and his campaign team would strive to garner as many nominations for the candidature as they can.
Vong, a lawyer-cum-notary by profession, made the remarks after attending a plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly (AL).
Talking to reporters, Vong said that Chui would hold a press conference today to announce his campaign manifesto for the upcoming chief executive election.
Vong also said that he and several other people working in the office – formally known as “candidacy headquarters” – that has been set up for Chui’s re-election bid would collect an application form for Chui’s candidacy nomination today.
Chui’s term will end at midnight on December 19. The chief executive election will be held on 31 August. Apart from Chui no-one else has so far declared his or her intention of running for the city’s highest office.
According to the Macau Basic Law, the chief executive can only serve two consecutive five-year terms.
The chief executive election campaign will take place from August 16-29. The official campaign expenditure cap stands at 5.7 million patacas.
Vong, 56, was appointed by Chui to the Legislative Assembly in 2009 and 2013. He was a member of the legislature from 1999 to 2005.
Vong also said that he was “very happy” to be Chui’s election representative again.
Vong was Chui’s “mandatary” for the latter’s first election bid for chief executive in 2009. At that time, Chui was also the only candidate who had garnered the necessary number of nominations to run in the election.
“I and [the other members of] the campaign team will do our best… to obtain the highest number of nominations we can,” Vong said.
According to information released by the Chief Executive Electoral Management Committee, the application period for applying for chief executive candidacy nomination started Monday and ends on July 29 while the date for submitting the application forms starts today and also last until July 29.
According to the Chief Executive Election Law, an applicant must obtain at least 66 nominations among the members of the 400-head Chief Executive Election Committee to have his or her candidacy officially recognised.
According to a statement from Chui’s campaign office , Chui will hold a press conference at the Macau World Trade Centre to announce his election manifesto.
The statement also said that Vong will collect the chief executive election candidate nomination form from the Chief Executive Election Co-ordination Centre in Rua do Campo today.(macaunews/macaupost)
Macau gambling tax revenue up 16 percent in first half (GAMING)
Direct revenue pulled in by the Macau government from the gambling industry rose 16 percent in the first half to MOP71.03 billion ($8.9 billion), according to Financial Services Bureau figures.
That represents about 60 percent of its target for direct taxes from the industry this year of MOP117.84 billion. Direct taxes from other sources were up 28 percent to MOP1.44 billion.
For the six months to end June, the government’s total revenue was $83.44 billion and its total surplus for the period was MOP60.46 billion.
Growth in gambling revenue reported by Macau’s operators fell for the first time in five years in June, dropping 3.7 percent, with most analysts are predicting July will also be a soft month.
The distraction from the FIFA World Cup has been cited as a factor for the slowdown, however VIP volumes have also fallen significantly.( macaunews/Asia Gaming Brief)
