The 2019 Macanese Chief Executive election was held on 25 August 2019 for the 5th term of the

Chief Executive of Macau The chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (; ) is the head of government of Macau, a special administrative region of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. W ...

(CE), the highest office of the

Macau Special Administrative Region Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...

. Incumbent Chief Executive

Fernando Chui Fernando Chui Sai On (; born 13 January 1957) is a Macau politician who served as the 2nd chief executive of Macau from 2009 to 2019. He served as secretary for social and cultural affairs from 1999 to 2009. Chui was born in 1957 to local ...

, who was re-elected once already, was not eligible to run for the office under

Macao Basic Law The Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( zh, 中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區基本法, ) is the organic law that establishes the Macau Special Administrative Region, replacing the E ...

, the mini-constitution of the territory. Ho Iat-seng, former

President of the Legislative Assembly of Macau The President of the Legislative Assembly is the speaker (politics), speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Macau. In the absence of the President, the Vice-President serves as President. List of presidents List of presidents of the Legislative A ...

, won as the sole candidate of the election.

Background

Election for 399

Election Committee The Election Committee is the electoral college in Hong Kong that selects the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, elects 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong which states ...

members, whose duty is to elect the new Chief Executive, was held on 16 June 2019. On 18 April 2019 the third

Ho Iat-seng announced his bid for CE office and tendered his resignation as the President of AL, Member of AL, Member of the NPCSC, and the 400 members Election Committee for the Chief Executive of Macau which was temporary reduced to 399 members. On 23 April the Chairman of the NPCSC

Li Zhanshu Li Zhanshu (born 30 August 1951) is a Chinese retired politician, who was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2018 to 2023. He was the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Ch ...

formally accepted Ho's resignation from the NPCSC. On 5 July 2019, Ho officially resigned from

Legislative Assembly of Macau The Legislative Assembly of the Macau Special Administrative Region is the organ of the legislative branch of Macau. It is a 33-member body comprising 14 directly elected members, 12 indirectly elected members representing Functional constitu ...

as President and Member of AL. On 23 June 2019, Ho was able to secure 378 electoral colleges becoming the sole candidate for CE, then appointed by

Li Keqiang Li Keqiang ( zh, s=李克强, p=Lǐ Kèqiáng; 3 July 1955 – 27 October 2023) was a Chinese economist and politician who served as the seventh premier of China from 2013 to 2023. He was also the second-ranked member of the Politburo Standing ...

Premier of China The premier of China, officially the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the e ...

Candidates

Announced

* Ho Iat-seng: Former President of the Legislative Assembly who resigned to contest the election. *Liang Guo-zhou: Director of an investment advisor company. *Xu Rong-cong: Former head of 澳門光明報, a local newspaper. *Cai Ting-ting. *Li Ai-ci. *Shao Gai-rong: Honorary Consul of Papua New Guinea to Macau. *Chen Rong-fu: Head of electric machines and air-conditioners engineering company.

Declined

* Chan Meng-kam: Former member of Legislative Assembly, businessman. * Lionel Leon Vai-tac: Secretary of Economy and Finance. * Wong Sio-chak: Secretary for Security of Macau.

Civil vote

Pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...

political party

New Macau Association The New Macau Association (AMN) is a major pro-democratic political party in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macau. The party was established in 1992 and the founding chairman was António Ng Kuok Cheong, who departed from the the ...

virtually held "Civil Vote of CE Under Universal Suffrage" between 11 and 25 August 2019, of which one question regarding political reform was presented: "Do you agree the Chief Executive of Macau Special Administrative Region shall be selected by universal suffrage?". The vote was cut short on 23 August by the Association after the voting website and advertisement booths on street were being attacked. According to the result released, 5,351 voted yes (93.9%), 236 voted no (4.1%), and 111 abstained (2%).

Results

Ho Iat-seng was elected after winning 98% of votes cast. The result was ratified by the Court of Final Appeal. Ho was officially appointed by

Premier of the People's Republic of China The premier of China, officially the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the e ...

, on 4 September 2019, and took office on 20 December.

Controversies

The

pro-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic La ...

voices discontentment over the

uncontested election An uncontested election is an election in which the winning candidate did not face a serious challenger. This often entails the number of candidates being the same as or fewer than the number of places available for election, meaning that all cand ...

, criticizing it as "one-man election", "sham election", and "small-circle election" as majority of residents cannot nominate and vote in the election.

References

External links

Official website
{{Macanese elections

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Single-candidate elections Chief Executive elections in Macau