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Macao

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Region Name: The Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China

Last reviewed: 8 December 2006

Country information

POLITICS

The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) operates under the same 'one country, two systems' principle as Hong Kong. It enjoys a high degree of autonomy in all areas except defence and foreign affairs which are the responsibility of the PRC.

The Joint Declaration and Basic Law of the Macao SAR (Basic Law) provide that Macao's capitalist system and way of life will remain unchanged for 50 years. The Basic Law serves as a mini-constitution for Macao and was promulgated in March 1993 by the National People's Congress of the PRC. It confers independent executive legislative, judicial and economic powers on the Macao SAR and guarantees the rights and freedoms of its residents.

The Executive

The Head of the Macao SAR Government is the Chief Executive. The current incumbent is Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah. The Chief Executive can serve for up to two five-year terms and is elected by a 300 member Election Committee whose members are nominated by corporate and social bodies.

A 10-member Executive Council (ExCo), Macao's cabinet, assists the Chief Executive with decision making, and is made up of a mixture of legislators, civil servants and business leaders.

The Chief Executive has the power to promulgate laws, introduce draft legislation to the Legislative Assembly and nominate ExCo candidates.

The Legislature

The Legislative Assembly, Macao's legislature, has 29 members. Geographical constituencies through direct elections return 12 members, 10 are returned by functional constituencies representing different sectors of the community, and 7 are directly appointed by the Chief Executive.

The Legislative Assembly's main function is to introduce, revise and approve draft legislation as well as to examine, debate and approve budgets introduced by the Government.

The Basic Law allows for the rules relating to the composition of the Legislative assembly to be altered in 2009 provided that any alterations are 'made with the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Council and the consent of the Chief Executive, and they shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record.'

The Judiciary

Macao's legal system is based on the Portuguese civil law tradition. The Joint Declaration and Basic Law provide for Macao having independent judicial power, including the power of final adjudication.

Recent Political Developments

Edmund Ho Hau Wah was re-elected on 29 August 2004 for a second term as Chief Executive. The election was uncontested, with Ho receiving 296 of the 299 votes cast by the 300 strong Election Committee in a secret ballot.

Ho pledged to use his second 5-year term to focus on economic development and raising the quality of life for residents. He said that he would stick closely to the principles of 'one country two systems', a 'high degree of autonomy for Macao' and 'Macao people running Macao'.

Elections

The third elections to the Legislative Assembly were held on 25 September 2005. There was record turn out of 128,829 registered votes, which accounted for 58.39% of the eligible population. 125 candidates ran for the 12 seats in the direct elections. The ten candidates for the ten functional constituency seats were returned unopposed.

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Contacts

Macao, British Honorary Consulate

Address:

PO Box No 1148
Macao SAR

Telephone:

(853) 6850886

Fax:

(853) 810222

Email: honbcmo@yahoo.co.uk

Office hours: