Macau businessman and former Legislative Assembly President Ho Iat Seng will not be opposed in his bid to become the next chief executive of the self-governing Chinese casino enclave.
With Beijing’s tacit support, Ho has received 378 of 400 possible nominations from an election committee comprised of representatives of Macau’s leading commercial, financial and community interests.
With that many votes it’s now impossible for anyone else to challenge him since Macau law stipulates that candidates much receive at least 66 nominations to qualify.
The committee will now formerly assess whether Ho meets the criteria for eligibility. Presuming he will, it’s expected he’ll be voted chief executive in an indirect election slated for August 25 and succeed Fernando Chui Sai On when the latter completes his second and final term in December.
Chui succeeded Edmund Ho as Macau’s second chief executive in 2009. Ho assumed the post in 1999 when the city was returned to Chinese sovereignty after more than 400 years as a colony of Portugal’s.
The handover coincided with the end of the casino monopoly controlled for 40 years by Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho and heralded Macau’s meteoric rise as the largest pure gambling market in the world.
Yet the 61-year-old Ho Iat Seng, like his predecessors, has won favor in part because he has no direct gaming industry ties.
He also enjoys strong political ties both in Macau and on the mainland.
He was Legislative Assembly president from October 2013 until earlier this month, when he stepped down to run for chief executive. From 2004 to 2009, he was a member of the city’s Executive Council, an advisory body to the chief executive’s office. He also served as a member of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress from 2000 until April of this year, when his resignation was approved in preparation for his ascent to the top job in Macau.
