The president of Macau’s Court of Final Appeal, Sam Hou Fai, is expected to take part in the upcoming Chief Executive race, according to sources from the body that will be electing the city’s leader, contacted by Macau News Agency (MNA).
Local news outlets Jornal Tribuna de Macau, Macau Daily Times and Plataforma also reported on Thursday that Sam is likely to join the election, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
Incumbent CE Ho Iat Seng announced on Wednesday that he would not be seeking a second term, citing health concerns.
Sam’s name as a strong possibility to run in the election scheduled for October 13 started circulating among the local elites on Monday, following the visit by Shi Taifeng, a member of the Communist Party of China Politburo, who was in town last weekend.
Sources told MNA on Wednesday that Ho Iat Seng’s announcement paves the way for what is expected to be a bid by Judge Sam, who has yet to make any comment or announcement on the matter.
MNA sent an email on Wednesday night to the office of the Court of Final Appeal inquiring about Mr. Sam’s plan to formalize his candidacy for the position of Chief Executive of the Macau SAR.
The nomination period runs from August 29 to September 12. Candidates will need to secure at least 66 nominations among the 400 members of the panel of electors. The only person who has so far publicly expressed willingness to join the leadership race is Jorge Chiang, a businessman who might find it hard to secure enough endorsements to be on the ballot, according to observers.
With Ho Iat Seng, 67, out of the race, it will be the first time a Macau Chief Executive does not serve a second five-year term, as Ho’s predecessors, Edmund Ho and Chui Sai On, were both elected to the position twice.
A native of Zhongshan, Guangdong province, the 62-year-old Sam Hou Fai has been serving as head of the SAR’s top court since the December 20, 1999 handover.
Sam graduated from the Faculty of Law at Peking University and completed his studies in Portuguese Language, Culture, and Law at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He also studied the course of Introduction to Macau Law at the University of Macau and attended the first Core and Advanced Training Courses for Judges and Public Prosecutors at the Legal and Judicial Training Centre.
Mr. Sam, who also worked as a lawyer in the mainland, returned from Portugal in 1993 and joined the first group of judicial auditors in Macau in 1995, and worked in the local courts and Public Prosecutions Office, his official biography note.
Sam Hou Fai has also been the President of the Council of the Judicial Magistrates, a Member of the Independent Commission on the Recommendation of Judges, a Member of the Working Committee on Regional Legal Assistance and International Mutual Legal Assistance, and the Honourable Chairman of the Macao Basic Law Promotional Association.
