MACAO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chui Sai On, ex-secretary for social affairs and culture of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), Monday announced his election campaign statement for the SAR's Chief Executive (CE) office, saying he will build a "clean" government once elected.

    Declaring his decision to run for the SAR's top job at a press conference Monday afternoon, Chui said he is "deeply aware" of the challenges, which Macao residents are gravely concerned with, such as the impact of the global financial crisis on Macao, and their earnest expectation for reform in the SAR's public administration.

    He claimed that he will focus on the difficulties and challenges the SAR encounter with the "people-oriented approach", transform the government into a "truly clean and highly efficient one", and consistently improve the quality of life for the people of Macao.

    Chui has already resigned his post in the SAR government earlier this month and established his campaign office later. A member of his campaign team collected the candidate's nomination form from the CE Election Coordination Center Monday morning. Meanwhile, another three residents, none of whom is former official and who intend to run for the CE, also obtained the nomination form on Monday, which is the first day of the collect-and-submit-form period that lasts till June 23.

    Under the SAR's CE Election Law, anyone who intends to run for the CE office must be nominated by 50 of the 300 members of the CE Election Committee, within which the new CE will be elected. The law also stipulates that public and judicial officials need to resign or retire from their public posts to be able to run for the top job.