http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1582091/fernando-chui-re-elected-chief-executive-macau
Fernando Chui Sai-on
Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on is the current and second chief executive of the Macau Special Administration Region of China. After winning a first term as the top official of the former Portuguese colony in 2009, Chui was re-elected uncontested in August 2014. Born in 1957, Chui is the son of the late Macau construction tycoon Chui Tak Seng.
STUART LAU
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 31 August, 2014, 11:19am
UPDATED : Sunday, 31 August, 2014, 2:03pm
Fernando Chui was today re-elected as Macau's chief executive. Photo: SCMP
Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on today won his uncontested re-election as Macau’s chief executive, in a choreographed exercise that attracted scores of protesters pressing for full democracy from Beijing.
Chui received 380 votes out of 396 cast by members of the 400-strong election committee. The victory enabled his continued rule of the world’s gambling capital for another five years.
The 57-year-old, who received 331 nominations, received 16 blank and invalid votes - a record number of votes in opposition to any chief executive candidate in the post-colonial history of the former Portuguese enclave.
Proportionally, he received 96 per cent of votes for his second - and final - term, against 95.3 per cent last time.
The election committee - up from 300 during the poll five years ago - is made up of pro-Beijing elites, politicians and all lawmakers. The poll was the fourth to take place since Lisbon handed over the city’s sovereignty to Beijing in 1999.
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Applause broke out following the announcement of the 200th vote for Chui - he needed half of all those present to back him in order to be re-elected.
Delivering his five-minute-long victory speech, Chui said he appreciated the public's "reminders" to him during electioneering.
"I wholeheartedly thank Macau residents' for their concern of the election, as well as their deep love for me and reminders to me," said Chui.
He vowed to raise the local workforce's competitiveness and take ecological concerns into account when planning the city's development.
Chui’s predecessor Edmund Ho Hau-wah and two family members of gambling tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun - daughter Pansy Ho Chiu-king and fourth wife Angela Leong On-kei, also a lawmaker - are among the present electors.
About 20 protesters trekked around the election venue, Macau East Asian Games Dome, to decry the “small-circle” election that took place under tight security inside.
More than 100 people are expected to rally at The Ruins of St. Paul’s, the city’s landmark heritage site, to protest against the re-election of Chui, whom they said failed to lower housing prices and deliver wider democracy during his first five-year term.
Chui received 380 votes out of 396 cast by members of the 400-strong election committee. Photo: SCMP
At 3pm, the organisers of the embattled unofficial referendum campaign will announce how many people voted against Chui’s re-election in their week-long exercise.
Police have arrested a number of the campaigners, saying they might have breached personal privacy laws by collecting residents’ personal data.
