An electoral conference, which is to elect 12 deputies from the
Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) to the 11th National
People's Congress (NPC), held its first plenary meeting in Maocao
on Saturday.
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Sheng Huaren (C), vice
chairman and secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee,
speaks during the first plenary meeting of an electoral conference,
which is to elect 12 deputies from the Macao Special Administrative
Region (SAR) to the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), in Macao
on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2008.
The conference, composed of 325 Macao residents with Chinese
citizenship, was chaired by Sheng Huaren, vice chairman and
secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee.
The entire process of choosing new NPC deputies from the Macao
SAR will go on "fairly, justly and openly," he said at the plenary
meeting.
He also pointed out that, in the past eight years, Macao's NPC
deputies "not only participated in the administration of state
affairs, but played an important role in helping the SAR government
carry out its work in accordance with the law."
Out of the electoral conference members, the first plenary
meeting chose nine persons to form a presidium, with Macao SAR
Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah voted as its executive chairman
by the presidium members.
The presidium will preside over the future meetings of the
electoral conference, and is in charge of announcing the list of
deputy candidates and the result of the election.
The nomination period for deputies to the 11th NPC will be
accepted between Jan. 7 and 18, and election will be held on Jan.
27, according to a bulletin released by the presidium.
The bulletin also said that each electoral conference member is
entitled to put forth no more than 12 nominees.
The conference will hold another plenary meeting on Jan. 27.
(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2008)
