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Macao's new chief executive said he will strive to improve the quality of life for people in the special administrative region.

After sweeping to victory yesterday, Fernando Chui Sai On said he will focus on the challenges Macao faces amid the financial crisis using a "people-oriented approach" and ensure the government is a "truly clean and highly efficient one".

He also pledged to ensure fair and healthy competition in the gaming sector, the backbone of the city's economy.

Chui, 52, the only candidate on the ballot, won 282 of the 296 votes cast by 297 election committee members present. Fourteen voted by absentee ballot.

Local lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho was the only committee member who did not cast his ballot. He said it was a way to express his opinion about the election, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Chui will take office in December and serve a five-year term after his appointment receives formal approval from Beijing.

As Macao's former secretary for social and cultural affairs, Chui had been poised to take over the post from two-term chief executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah. Ho congratulated Chui on his election and believes Chui can oversee the future development of the city.

Casino king Stanley Ho Hung-sun, a member of the election committee and a standing committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, described the election as "fair" and "open".

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Chui earned the job with his devotion, resolution and experience in public service.

Tsang expressed hopes the two administrative regions can forge closer ties so the economies of Hong Kong, Macao and cities in the Pearl River Delta can prosper.

You Anshan, director of the Hong Kong and Macao studies center under the Shanghai Academy of Social Studies, said he felt Chui's political program was "close to public opinion".

（英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.