The election for the fourth Legislative Assembly of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will be held on Sept. 20 this year, according to a decree signed by the SAR's Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah, which was promulgated in the Official Gazette on Monday.

In addition to the announcement of the date, the chief executive appointed a five-member Legislative Assembly Election Affairs Committee, which includes senior officials of various governmental departments, according to the Gazette.

Macao will hold direct and indirect elections of the 29-member Legislative Assembly and the election of the SAR's new chief executive by a 300-member electoral committee respectively this year. The exact date for the chief executive election is yet to be released.

Under the SAR's laws, local permanent residents aged at least 18 have the right to vote in these elections, irrespective of nationality and place of birth, while those aged at least 21 have the right to stand for elections. Candidacies and the related platforms for the Legislative Assembly election must be submitted to the SAR's Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau 70 days ahead of the election date at the latest.

It was also decreed by the chief executive that the election expense limit for each candidacy for the membership of the SAR's Legislative Assembly stood at 8.94 million patacas (1.13 million U. S. dollars).

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2009)