An electoral conference, which is to elect 12 deputies from the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) to the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), held its first plenary meeting in Maocao on Saturday.

Sheng Huaren (C), vice chairman and secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, speaks during the first plenary meeting of an electoral conference, which is to elect 12 deputies from the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) to the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), in Macao on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2008.

The conference, composed of 325 Macao residents with Chinese citizenship, was chaired by Sheng Huaren, vice chairman and secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee.

The entire process of choosing new NPC deputies from the Macao SAR will go on "fairly, justly and openly," he said at the plenary meeting.

He also pointed out that, in the past eight years, Macao's NPC deputies "not only participated in the administration of state affairs, but played an important role in helping the SAR government carry out its work in accordance with the law."

Out of the electoral conference members, the first plenary meeting chose nine persons to form a presidium, with Macao SAR Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah voted as its executive chairman by the presidium members.

The presidium will preside over the future meetings of the electoral conference, and is in charge of announcing the list of deputy candidates and the result of the election.

The nomination period for deputies to the 11th NPC will be accepted between Jan. 7 and 18, and election will be held on Jan. 27, according to a bulletin released by the presidium.

The bulletin also said that each electoral conference member is entitled to put forth no more than 12 nominees.

The conference will hold another plenary meeting on Jan. 27.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2008)