The announcement was made in the form of an executive communique
endorsed by incumbent Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah.
According to the Chief Executive Election Law, which was passed by the Macao
Legislative Council earlier this month, the committee will comprise 300 members
to represent four mainstream sectors of Macao's society. The industrial,
commercial and financial sectors is the biggest, with a total of 100 members.
The second group has 80 members representing four sub-sectors, namely culture
with 18 members, education with 20 members, professionals with 30 members and
sports with 12 members.
The third sector comprises 80 members among three sub-sectors, namely labour
with 40 members, social services with 34 members and main religions with 6
members.
The fourth sector comprises Macao's 12 deputies to the National People's
Congress -- the national legislature, 16 representatives of the local
legislative, and 12 representatives from Macao's members of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference, the country's political advisory body.
Apart from the fourth sector and the representatives of religious
organizations, who are free to choose their own method of selecting their
representatives, the election of the other members of the committee will be
based on Macao's traditional system of indirect elections involving
representatives of specifically registered community, labour and business
associations.
There are about 2,000 such legal associations and organizations in the SAR,
with 500 of them elective societies. They are highly representative in the city
with a population of 448,500.
Under the election law, which is closely based on the Macao Basic Law, the
election of the chief executive by the Election Committee must be held at least
60 days before the office holder's term expires. Ho's first five-year term ends
on December 19.
