Chui re-elected, no news on new secretaries

The incumbent Chief Executive Chui Sai On has won his bet to stay in high office for another five years, running as the sole candidate in the CE election yesterday.
He received 380 of 396 votes cast by the 400-member Electoral College, which was 96.95 percent of the total amount of votes and was slightly higher than the 95.27 percent tabled in the 2009 election.
He garnered 282 out of 296 votes five years ago.
The election yesterday started at 10 a.m. inside the Macau East Asian Games Dome. It took around 25 minutes for the 396 Electoral College members to finish casting their votes before the vote-counting process began.
At around 10:40 a.m., Chui Sai On had already secured 201 votes, more than half of the number of Electoral College members, and was certain to win the election.
After the general counting committee confirmed the result and declared him successfully re-elected, Chui Sai On gave a brief speech in which he promised to fulfill his election promises with a “reforming and renovating spirit.”
The re-elected CE then held a press conference.
He said that some of the challenges that he has to face in the upcoming five years include livelihood issues, economic development and improvement in government administrative efficiency.
“We will review the development of the gaming industry as I said in my campaign pledge,” Chui said. “We will review it as part of positioning Macau as a world-class leisure center. The government also cares about the livelihood of people here.”
When asked how he plans to reform the bureaucratic structure of the government, Chui Sai on said he will listen to opinions from the public and civil servants’ groups.
“It is also the case that research institutions must collect opinions and carry out [reform] step-by-step,” he said.
The CE also reiterated that he wanted to maintain the current five-secretary government structure.
However, he believes that government bureaus that hold overlapping functions can be integrated or reincorporated into different Secretariats in order to improve administrative efficiency.
He gave the example of the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), claiming that many opinions have suggested that the tourism-related department should be re-incorporated into the economic area.
Another suggestion he received is the idea to integrate all transportation-related bureaus into a single bureau.
Chui Sai On also mentioned some of the criteria for choosing the new secretaries, such as academic qualifications, work experience and participation in society. However, he still refused to discuss the candidates for the five roles in his new government.
Regarding the 13 blank votes he received, Chui Sai On said that he would see those votes as a way to spur him on.
“I think, in an election, there are [people] who voted for [a candidate] and those who voted against. This is normal. If there are blank votes or those who did not vote for me, they are spurring me on. Maybe [people casting blank votes] hope that I am going to perform better and may support me in the future,” Chui said.
Furthermore, a reporter asked about the recent crackdown on journalists and the organizers of the civil referendum.
Chui Sai On claimed that he was only an election candidate in the previous two weeks and will only return to office today.
“After hearing your opinion, I will pay attention to that. However, I believe that the public departments in Macau are carrying out their works according to the law,” he said.
Yesterday’s election result will be handed to the Court of Final Appeal for final confirmation before it is submitted to the central government.
Once the central government has officially appointed Chui Sai On to be the fourth Macau CE, he will be sworn into office on December 20.

protesters performance outside macau dome

More than ten members of the civil group Macau Conscience marched outside the election venue. All of the protesters wore white t-shirts. They kowtowed once every four steps during their walk around the Macau Dome, with the event’s organizer, scholar Bill Chou, reading the names of the Electoral College members. The group said that they held a “performance” to express their demand for universal suffrage of the CE and AL members, as well as to peacefully protest the crackdown on civil referendum.

João Pedro Lau