Macau, China, 27 Apr – The Chief Executive of Macau, Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said that the date of the election of his replacement as head of the Macau Special Administrative Region’s government will be announced in May.
Macau’s Chief Executive Election Committee, made up of 300 members, will then draw up a timetable for the nomination of candidates.
The candidates for the new Chief Executive should be known during the month of June.
The future Chief Executive is chosen by a committee that has representatives from various sectors in Macau, members of the Macau Legislative Assembly, delegates from the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Two ongoing polls being carried out in MacauNews and weekly magazine Closer show Ho Chio Meng, Prosecutor General of Macau, as the favourite to replace Edmund Ho, who ends his five-year mandate on 19 December, 2009.
In second place is Francis Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance, and in a distant third is Fernando Chui Sai On, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture.
In the MacauNews poll, Chio Meng got 30.4 percent of votes, while Tam Pak received 30 percent.
The current secretary for the Economy and Finance, Francis Tam, led the poll from the start of the year, with Ho Chio Meng only passing him in recent days.
In Closer, Ho Chio Meng received 33.97 percent of votes, while Tam Pak got 30.53 percent.
Ho Chio Meng emerged in the last month as a potential candidate after receiving more public support to run for the Chief Executive of Macau.
Previously businessman Ho Iat Seng, who has important links to China, was seen as the candidate with the most chance of taking on the role, though he publicly said that he was not interested in running.
Up until now only Chow Kam Fai, a businessman and member of the Macau Legislative Assembly, publicly showed interest in running for the Chief Executive role.
According to the Basic Law of Macau, the Chief Executive can only serve two consecutive mandates.
(MacauNews)
