(Adopted at the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the Macao Special Administrative Region of the National People's Congress on January 16, 1999)
颁布日期：19990116 　实施日期：19990116 　颁布单位：全国人民代表大会

Article 1 In accordance with the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region ( hereinafter referred to as "the Basic Law") and the Decision of the National People's Congress on the Method for the Formation of the First Government, the First Legislative Council and the First Judiciary of the Macao Special Administrative Region, this Method is formulated in order to select the candidate for the first Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Article 2 The candidate for the first Chief Executive shall be nominated in accordance with the principle of fairness, impartiality, publicity, democracy, and probity.

Article 3 The candidate for the first Chief Executive must have the following qualifications:

1. A Chinese citizen who is a permanent resident of Macao with no right of abode in any foreign country or consenting to give up the right of abode in any foreign country;

2. Not less than 40 years of age;

3. Have ordinarily resided in Macao for a continuous period of not less than 20 years;

4. Support the Basic Law;

5. Give allegiance to the People's Republic of China and the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Among these qualifications, "not less than 40 years old" means already being 40 by the cutoff date of the enrollment of the election; "have ordinarily resided in Macao for a continuous period of not less than 20 years" means having ordinarily resided in Macao for a continuous period of not less than 20 years by the cutoff date of the enrollment of the election,calculation of such a period shall include the time of going abroad for study, business or visiting relatives and friends when residing in Macao.

Article 4 Current in-service public servants who intend to participate in the selection of the First Chief Executive must resign their public service and leave their post while enunciating their intention of participation.

Article 5 People who intend to participate in the selection of the First Chief Executive shall attend in their individual capacities. People who are members of political parties must secede from these political parties while enunciating their intention of participation.

Article 6 The selection of the first Chief Executive shall be taken charge by the Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as "the Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee").

Article 7 The first Chief Executive shall be selected through the method of nomination by the Selection Committee for the First Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (hereinafter referred to as "the Selection Committee"). The following are the specific procedures:

A. Enrollment and Qualification Verification

People who intend to participate in the selection of the first Chief Executive shall enunciate their intention of participation to the Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee in written form and shall submit a Resume Form of Participant for the Office of the First Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China while enrolling for the selection. Participants for the selection of the Chief Executive shall not be members of the Selection Committee. If a member of the Selection Committee intends to participate in the selection, he must simultaneously resigned his post in the Selection Committee while enunciating his intention to participate in the selection. The vacancy shall be disposed in accordance with Article 12 of the Method for the Formation of the Selection Committee for the First Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

The Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee shall be responsible for the verification of qualification of people who have submitted Resume Form, and when necessary may require them to provide certifying papers concerning matters they wrote in the Form. People who have the qualification become participants for the selection of the first Chief Executive and the Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee shall publicize the list of the participants.

B. Nomination and Determination of Candidates

The Selection Committee shall, on the basis of the list of participants, bring forward candidates for the office of the first Chief Executive by secret ballot after consultation. Each member of the Selection Committee may nominate one candidate. When counting nomination ballots, the scrutineer elected by the members of the Selection Committee shall oversee the counting. Participants who nominated by not less than 20 members of the Selection Committee become candidates for the office of the first Chief Executive, who shall be subsequently affirmed by the Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee.

The list of candidates and their brief introduction shall be printed and distributed to all members of the Selection Committee and shall be announced to the public.

C. Election

The Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee shall convene plenary session of the Selection Committee. The candidates for the office of the first Chief Executive shall report to the plenary session of the Selection Committee their personal status and their administrative plans, and shall answer questions from members of the Selection Committee.

Members of the Selection Committee shall vote by secret ballot. Each member may vote for one candidate. Ballots voting for one candidate are valid, and those voting for more than one candidates are invalid.

Members of the Selection Committee shall elect mutually a scrutineer to oversee the balloting. If the number of ballots is equal to or less than the number of balloters, the vote is valid; if the number of ballots is more than the number of balloters, the vote is invalid and must be hold again.

The candidate who receives more than half of the votes of members of the Selection Committee shall be elected. If no candidate receives more than half of the votes, then the two leading candidates shall enter into a second round vote and the one receiving more votes in the second round shall be elected.

The scrutineer shall report the voting result to the Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee, who shall then announce the voting result to the public.

Article 8 The procedure selecting the candidate for the first Chief Executive shall be completed within 45 days after the establishment of the Selection Committee.

Article 9 Participants and candidates for the first Chief Executive shall not carry out personal abuse on each other and shall not bribe members of the Selection Committee or offer or promise to offer them any benefits.

The Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee shall be responsible for supervising the vote and handling appeals.

Article 10 After the recommended candidate for the first Chief Executive is elected, the Preparatory Committee shall report to the Central Government for appointment.

Article 11 Matters not stipulated in this Method may be supplemented by the Plenary Session of the Preparatory Committee in accordance with the proposal of the Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee.

Article 12 The Chair Meeting of the Preparatory Committee shall be responsible for the interpretation of this Method.