Macau (MNA) – Local businessman Leong Kuok Chao (梁國洲) has announced on Friday that he will also run for the Chief Executive (CE) elections this year, TDM Radio Chinese reported.
Mr. Leong is currently 45 years old and is a director of an investment consultancy company and unsuccessfully ran to become a legislator 2005 Legislative Assembly (AL) elections.
The businessman announced the decision after praying at Pau Kung Temple today.
He is now the second person who has officially declared he will be running for CE position after the AL President, Ho Iat Seng.
If Mr. Leong manages to become an official candidate it would be the first time since the first CE elections in the Macau SAR in 1999 that more than one official candidate will be running for the top position.
In 1999 Edmund Ho Hau Wah beat Stanley Au Chong Kit to become the first CE since the handover of the city to Chinese administration.
The new candidate said that he is confident he will obtain enough nominations from the CE Electoral Committee members to become an official candidate for the CE position, and said he is now preparing his campaign office as well as a campaign team.
Stating social affairs such as housing and transportation is the most concerning issues for him and Macau residents, Mr. Leong hopes to gain support from Macau residents.
In 2005, Mr. Leong joined Wong Cheong Nam to form an electoral list called ‘Macau Association for Democracy and Social Welfare (ADBSM)’ for that year’s AL election.
They eventually received 4,358 votes and failed to get a seat in the AL.
