In Macau and local businessman Ho Iat Seng (pictured) has reportedly been selected to replace the outgoing Fernando Chui Sai On and serve as the former Portuguese enclave’s third ever Chief Executive.

According to a Sunday report, 62-year-old Ho previously worked as President for the city’s Legislative Assembly and was named to his new post after running uncontested and being confirmed by 98% of a 400-member panel that had largely consisted of pro-Beijing and pro-business figures.

Retendering authority:

GGRAsia reported that Ho is now due to be officially sworn in on December 20 as part of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the territory’s official handover to China and will serve an initial five-year term before being given the option of extending his tenure by a further identical stretch. The Macau native purportedly has no direct links with any of the city’s current ‘big six’ gambling operators, which encompass MGM China Holdings Limited, Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited and SJM Holdings Limited as well as Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited and the local Sands China Limited and Wynn Macau Limited subordinates of Las Vegas Sands Corporation and Wynn Resorts Limited respectively, and is to be responsible for overseeing the widely anticipated casino license retendering process.

Encouraging example:

For its part, The Straits Times newspaper reported that Ho is not related to either Edmund Ho Hau Wah, who served as the city’s first post-handover Chief Executive, or former Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho Hung Sun, and will moreover be tasked with positioning the enclave to serve as a beacon of China’s ‘one country, two systems’ framework amid a rising tide of pro-democracy protests in nearby Hong Kong.