Election in Macao shows great significance

The election of Macao's second chief executive on Sunday has its paramount significance as it is the first election that proceeds under the newly-enacted Macao Chief Executive Law after Macao's return to China.

Although the re-election of Macao's current chief executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah lacked a sense of suspense, his one-man election campaign which ended Friday has turned out to be a rather demanding question-and-answer marathon for the sole candidate to meet with a string of community, business, labor, professional, cultural and sports associations.

During the campaign, Ho gathered first-hand feedback for his re-election policy, which featured the theme of "building a high-quality society and creating a beautiful future."

The policy guideline for the next five years would see to a series of legislative, judicial and educational reforms and amendment of human resources, social welfare policies, which are aimed to update Macao's systems to accommodate the current situation.

Edmund Ho won the election of the first chief executive at the third plenary meeting of the Selection Committee for the First Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in May1999, which was held seven months before the Macao SAR was founded. At that time, Ho outdid his only rival Stanley Au Chong Kit by garnering 163 of the 199 votes in the Selection Committee.

In line with the Basic Law, the Macao SAR legislated its Chief Executive Election Law in April this year, which led to the composition of a 300-member Election Committee representing four mainstream sectors of Macao's civil society to produce the second chief executive.

Under the legal procedure, Ho announced his re-election bid on July 15. "I have held the office of the first chief executive of the Macao SAR with the trust and support vested in me by the central government and the people of Macao. In almost five years of work and service, I have stood consistently alongside the people, during hard times and easier times," said Ho in his re-election candidacy.

He obtained 297 endorsement forms, or 99 percent of supports from the Election Committee for his candidature nomination. His popularity suggested the cohesion power that the young SAR government has produced during its five-year administration led by Edmund Ho.

The 49-year-old banker-turned-chief executive has shown his modesty and open mind in the uncontested re-election campaign. He gave a full ear to public opinions stimulating civic dialogues with grass-roots either in working-class neighborhoods or old-heritage quarters in the two-week hustings.

Ho said his administration could make a thorough review of its work through this campaign, which should be useful in the drafting of the next five-year policy guideline.

Having practiced "Macao people governing Macao" for nearly fiveyears, Macao residents are getting more mature in their political life. Grass-root residents are outspoken in dialogue with the chief executive candidate raising questions from neighborhood building, social morale building to employment.

Ho said that he would make an intensive research on public opinions, complaints and suggestions gathered during his election campaign, and take them into consideration in the policy making.

Local media claimed that Ho's cachet was further elevated after his campaign journey, which would make for the work of the second term Macao SAR administration.

As the first chief executive of the Macao SAR, Ho enjoys a popularity for his clear-cut and effective strategy leading to Macao's smooth political transition and prominent economic recovery. Under his leadership, Macao's economy has sustained a growth for four years in a row and realized the fastest growth in history at 15.6 percent last year.

Ho's re-election is widely acclaimed as the public expects him to sustain the booming momentum, and consolidate Macao's economic and social strength.

Source: Xinhua