Legislative Assembly | Ho Iat Seng almost uncontested

The newly inaugurated Macau Legislative Assembly (AL) plenary session re-elected president Ho Iat Seng, to a new mandate, the second after his election in 2013.

The election, which took place at the chamber yesterday afternoon, saw Ho take 30 out of the 33 possible votes from the lawmakers, with the other three being distributed as two to lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong and one left blank.

The voting session was conducted by lawmaker Vitor Cheung Lup Kwan, as he is the oldest lawmaker of the hemicycle, and scrutinized by the pair Sulu Sou and Song Pek Kei, who are some of the younger ones.

Sou, who is the youngest lawmaker of the Macau AL, had the task of announcing the results.

The session was interrupted by Sou, as he questioned the rules governing such an election, his first intervention as a lawmaker.

Sou was questioning the system, calling for a presentation from several lawmakers as “all can be elected for such position.”

To this request, Kwan replied that besides the new lawmakers, all others were widely known and that was “unnecessary and time-consuming” to perform such a task.

Kwan added, “according to regulations, when there are at least eight lawmakers that state their interest in being president [of the AL] clearly, we should do that

On the sidelines of the session, Sou explained the aim of his question saying that he wanted to bring to attention that such positions (of president and vice president) of the AL should be given to directly elected lawmakers as they “are more entitled” since “they were elected by the people.”

Following the appointment of the new president of the AL by the Chief Executive (CE), Chui Sai On, which took place at the Macau Cultural Centre, Ho told the media that he plans to fulfill his mandate for the entire period of four years. “If I’m in good health I will,” he said, reaffirming, “this is the task that I need to fulfill,” pushing away the possibilities of running for CE at mid-mandate.

Regarding his mandate, Ho believes that the newly elected lawmakers can contribute a “wider range of opinions,” noting that, “as long as they follow the rules of the AL, as president I’m not afraid to have more voices at the AL. On the contrary, I don’t like when nobody speaks and nobody presents their opinions.”

After being re-elected, Ho said: “I’ll accept this position and promise to fulfill it according to the Macau Basic Law and the Assembly regiment, taking in note also the statute of the lawmakers.”

New lawmakers take oath

The 33 lawmakers that compose the new Legislative Assembly for the sixth legislature took their oath at approximately noon yesterday at the government’s headquarters. The oath was taken in the presence of Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On without any unforeseen events, with all lawmakers making their oath in-group and represented by lawmaker Kou Hoi In in the stand. The oath was led by China’s National Anthem and followed by an individual exchange of compliments between the new lawmakers and the CE.