Veteran lawmaker Kou Hoi In is expected to become the new president of the Legislative Assembly (AL) on Wednesday, informed sources have told The Macau Post Daily.
The sources, who asked not to be named, said that Kou, born in 1953, was the most suitable replacement of Ho Iat Seng, who resigned from the legislature earlier this month so that he can run for chief executive in next month’s election.
Kou, who has been a member of the legislature since 1991, is its longest-serving member. He is an indirectly-elected lawmaker representing the business sector. A long-time business executive, Kou heads the board of directors of the Macau Chamber of Commerce. He is also one of Macau’s 12 deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.
Kou is currently the first secretary of the legislature’s board. The legislature has a president (speaker), vice-president, first secretary and second secretary.
Businessman Chui Sai Cheong, the current vice-president, has been the legislature’s acting president since Ho’s resignation on July 5. Chui is the elder brother of Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On.
The sources said that it could be seen as “politically inexpedient” if brothers were holding Macau’s two top posts (chief executive and speaker of the legislature) at the same time, even if only for a few months. Fernando Chui’s term as chief of executive is slated to end at midnight on December 19. He is widely expected to be succeeded by Ho.
The sources also said they expected Chui Sai Cheong to continue in his current post as vice-president.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese-language radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM reported on Friday that indirectly-elected lawmaker Chan Hong, who heads the Macau Education Association, was expected to replace Kou as first secretary of the legislature’s board. Chan, the deputy principal of Hou Kong Middle School, is currently the board’s second secretary. The sources contacted by The Macau Post Daily also said that Chan was Kou’s replacement as first secretary.
The sources also told The Macau Post Daily that directly-elected lawmaker Ho Ion Sang was likely to be elected second secretary by his peers in the legislature’s hemicycle on Wednesday afternoon. Ho is a director of the local Bank of China (BOC) for customer relations and senior member of the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (Kai Fong).
