The President of the Court of Final Appeal, Sam Hou Fai, has resigned from his post with effect from Wednesday 28 August. It is expected that he will soon announce his candidature for Macau’s Chief Executive election after current Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng revealed he would not contest a second term.
Sam’s resignation comes after he said last week he was “considering running” in the Chief Executive election. According to Macau law, serving civil servants who wish to run in the election must resign from the civil service and leave their post before making their candidature known.
It has been strongly rumored in recent weeks that Sam would run, likely as the only candidate.
Macau’s Official Gazette published an update on Monday confirming Sam has resigned from the post of President, as well as from his duties as a judge of the Court of Final Appeal and a member of the Macau SAR’s Independent Commission for the Recommendation of Judges.
He has served as President of Macau’s Court of Final Appeal since Macau was brought back under China’s rule in December 1999.
Sam was born in mainland China in 1962, graduated from the Law Faculty of Beijing University and worked as a practicing lawyer on the mainland.
He later attended the University of Coimbra, Portugal, to complete a course in Portuguese language, culture and law, as well as an introductory course in law at the University of Macau. He was also a participant of the first Core and Advanced Training Courses for Judges and Public Prosecutors at the Legal and Judicial Training Centre.
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