Ho Iat Seng elected as Macao's chief executive-designate

MACAO, Aug. 25 -- Ho Iat Seng, the lone candidate of the fifth-term chief executive (CE) election of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), was declared winner here on Sunday.

All 400 members of the CE election committee for the region's next chief executive started voting at around 10:00 a.m. local time at the landmark Macao East Asian Games Dome.

After the about 30-minute voting procedure, Song Man Lei, president of the CE election management committee, told the 400-member election committee and media, "Mr. Ho Iat Seng gained 392 votes to be the CE-designate."

Among the 400 votes, 392 were in Ho's favor, seven abstention and one was invalid, according to the election management committee.

According to the election method, the voting is only legitimate upon the attendance of two thirds of the election committee members and a candidate must obtain more than 200 votes to secure the win.

Ho, born in Macao in 1957, comes from a well-off local business family.

From 2004 to 2009, Ho served as a member of the Executive Council of the Macao SAR. In October 2013, he was elected president of the Legislative Assembly of the Macao SAR and was re-elected in October 2017.

He had also been a deputy of China's National People's Congress (NPC) and a member of the NPC Standing Committee.

In April 2019, Ho announced his decision to run for the election and submitted his resignation to the NPC Standing Committee, which afterwards accepted his resignation.

Ho, at the conclusion of the voting, told those at present including voters and media workers that he will spare no effort to uphold the principals of "one country, two systems" "Macao people governing Macao" and "a high degree of autonomy."

"I will unswervingly carry out my duties and governance in strict accordance with the constitution and the basic law to serve the people, the SAR and the country," Ho said.

Ho is awaiting the approval of China's central government to be the SAR's new CE.