The local government rolled out yesterday the electoral process for the upcoming five-year term of Macau’s sixth-term chief executive, announcing the setting-up of the sixth-term Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission and the date for the election of the 400-member Chief Executive Election Committee.

The election of the Chief Executive Election Committee has been set for August 11 this year, according to a chief executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday.

The executive order, dated Friday, took effect yesterday, i.e., the date of its promulgation.

The Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) chief executive election is held every five years, and the elections of the two former chief executives – Edmund Ho Hau Wah (1999-2009) and Fernando Chui Sai On (2009-2019) – for their respective second terms were both held at the end of August.

Ho Iat Seng, Macau’s fifth-term chief executive, will serve out his first term on December 19 this year.

Issued by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, the executive order noted that on the recommendation of the MSAR’s Independent Commission Tasked with the Appointment of Judges, which is composed of local judges, lawyers and “eminent persons”, Macau’s highest-ranking female judge Song Man Lei, a judge of the three-member Court of Final Appeal (TUI), was appointed again as the president of the MSAR Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission; while Seng Ioi Man, presiding judge of the Court of First Instance (TJB); Ng Wai Han, director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP); Inês Chan Lou, director of the Government Information Bureau (GCS); and Mai Man Ieng, deputy prosecutor of the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), were appointed members of the commission. The five appointees’ terms will run through December 31, 2028.

Addressing yesterday afternoon’s inauguration ceremony at Government Headquarters on Avenida da Praia Grande, Song, Mai, Seng, Ng and Chan took their oaths and signed their appointment certificates one after the other, witnessed by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng.

The swearing-in ceremony was also attended by Legislative Assembly (AL) President Kou Hoi In, Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário and TUI President Sam Hou Fai, among other senior officials.

The amended Chief Executive Election Law of the MSAR took effect at the beginning of this year, stating that the election of the chief executive and the candidates for membership of the chief executive electoral committee must meet the qualifications of upholding the MSAR Basic Law and pledging allegiance to the MSAR, while also highlighting that they must not be members of foreign legislatures or governments, and are subject to examination by the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the MSAR.

The amendments also noted that nominees and candidates who have been found, in accordance with the law, not to support the MSAR Basic Law or not to be loyal to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or the MSAR in the year of application or in the five calendar years preceding it, will not be accepted.

CE election to be held in October at earliest

Speaking to the media after the 10-minute ceremony, Song, flanked by her fellow members, vowed that the election of the 400-member Chief Executive Election Committee members will be carried out in “an orderly, fair, just and honest manner” in accordance with the provisions of the Macau Basic Law and the Chief Executive Election Law, adding that members of the Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission met each other for the first time yesterday. Song also said she believed that the commission’s first formal meeting could be held this week at the earliest.

One of the key points of the amended election law requires all the candidates of the election committee and nominated MSAR chief executive candidates to undergo a qualification review, which is, Song pointed out, the foundation for optimising and improving the election procedures.

She said: “For the time being, we do not see that the new amendment will have a significant impact on the election environment, but rather, it is a good measure to ensure the smooth conduct of the entire election process.”

The election of the members for 2019’s Chief Executive Election Committee was held on June 16, while the Chief Executive Election was held on August 25, in response to which Song said that the date of the chief executive election needs to be determined by an executive order, stressing that “as long as we can guarantee that all the work will be completed within the time specified in the law, it will not be considered as late”.

The fifth-term Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission was set up on February 4, 2019.

In line with the Chief Executive Election Law, the election of the chief executive election committee shall be held no later than 60 days before the election of a new-term chief executive, i.e., the upcoming election for the MSAR chief executive could only be held in October at the earliest, and Song said that the law clearly stipulates the election schedule and procedures for both the election committee and the new-term chief executive, adding: “There has been a slight delay in time, but according to the election law, there is sufficient time for the commencement of various tasks.”

The election-related review report by the Commission on the Defence of National Security of the MSAR will be binding on the election committee, but Song pointed out that there was no indication that the election would take longer in response to the review.

Macau’s Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission President Song Man Lei (centre), a judge of the three-member Court of Final Appeal (TUI), flanked by her fellow members Seng Ioi Man (second from right), presiding judge of the Court of First Instance (TJB); Ng Wai Han (left), director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP); Inês Chan Lou (right), director of the Government Information Bureau (GCS); and Mai Man Ieng (second from left), deputy prosecutor of the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), speaks to the media after yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony of the sixth-term Chief Executive Electoral Affairs Commission, at Government Headquarters on Avenida da Praia Grande. – Photo: Yuki Lei