Former Macanese Court of Final Appeal president Sam Hou-fai (岑浩輝) yesterday announced his bid to run in an October election for chief executive of the Chinese casino hub.
Macau, a special administrative region under China’s “one country, two systems” framework, is to hold an election on Oct. 13 in which only about 400 pro-establishment figures are allowed to vote.
Macanese Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng (賀一誠) last week announced his plans to step down in December, citing health concerns.
Photo: AFP
Sam, who had resigned from his position as president of Macau’s highest court the day before, yesterday in a news conference said that he has “decided to run for the office of the sixth chief executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region.”
No other candidates have declared a bid, and the nomination period runs from today to Sept. 12. Any new leader would need approval from Beijing.
If elected, 62-year-old Sam would become the first Macau leader with a legal background, in contrast to his three predecessors who all hailed from the business sector.
The territory’s fortunes have long been pegged to its booming casino industry, though Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has urged Macau to diversify its economy.
Sam said Macau’s economic and political development faced “unavoidable” challenges, and that it needed to “reform and innovate.”
“Macau’s long-term development is only possible with the country’s support,” Sam said, stressing the need to serve China’s development blueprint.
Born in Zhongshan, China, in 1962, Sam would be the first leader not born in Macau if he is elected. He graduated from the elite law school of China’s Peking University and received further education in Portugal.
Sam was among the first batch of judges trained in Macanese Magistrates Training Center and was appointed the president of the Macanese Court of Final Appeal on the same day the territory was handed back to China on Dec. 20, 1999. Under Sam’s leadership, Macau’s apex court in 2021 outlawed the peaceful candlelight vigil held to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
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