GGRAsia – Sam Hou Fai confirms intention to run for Macau top job

Sam Hou Fai confirms intention to run for Macau top job

Aug 28, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Sam Hou Fai, until recently president of Macau’s Court of Final Appeal, has confirmed his intention to run for the role of chief executive, the city’s top job. Mr Sam (pictured) made the announcement in a press conference on Wednesday.

Macau’s incumbent Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, announced last week that he would not run for a second term in the scheduled October poll.

Mr Sam resigned earlier this week from the position of president of Macau’s Court of Final Appeal. He also stepped down from his post as a member of the Independent Commission on the Recommendation of Judges, according to an executive order published in the city’s Official Gazette on Monday.

Local legislator and deputy general manager of the Bank of China Macau Branch, Ip Sio Kai, is the director of Mr Sam’s campaign office.

During Wednesday’s press briefing, Mr Sam stated that the goal of achieving “adequate economic diversification” was essential for Macau’s development.

He recalled that in certain periods Macau’s gaming industry “developed in an unbalanced manner”, creating challenges for the society and the city’s economy.

“No matter how difficult and hard it might be, it’s necessary to promote economic diversification,” stated the former top judge. He also pledged to gather views from the public while drafting his political platform for the upcoming Chief Executive election.

The selection of Macau’s chief executive post is done not by direct voting among the adult population, but by a 400-strong election committee featuring representatives of various sectoral interests including industry, commerce, finance, labour and education.

According to the Chief Executive Election Law, individuals interested in standing as a candidate for the post of chief executive must receive at least 66 nominations drawn from among those people that are members of the Chief Executive Election Committee.

Individuals interested in becoming a candidate for Macau’s top job may apply to be a nominee from August 29 to September 12 inclusive.

The poll process to choose the city’s next leader is scheduled for October 13.

Mr Sam, 62, was born in mainland China and raised in Zhongshan, in Guangdong province. He had been serving as head of Macau’s top court since the December 1999 handover.

The former top judge graduated from the Faculty of Law at Peking University and completed his studies in Portuguese Language, Culture, and Law at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal.

He also attended the course of Introduction to Macau Law at the University of Macau and as part of the first Core and Advanced Training Courses for Judges and Public Prosecutors at the Legal and Judicial Training Centre.

Mr Sam returned from Portugal in 1993 and joined the first group of judicial auditors in Macau two years later. He was appointed in 1997 as a judge at the Court of First Instance, before assuming the position of president of the city’s top court in December 1999.

Brokerage Seaport Research Partners says it does not expect “any material changes” to Macau’s gaming industry once a new Chief Executive is installed later this year.