MACAO - A total of 344 members of the chief executive election committee of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) were elected on Sunday, the management committee of Macao chief executive election announced on Sunday night.

During Sunday's election which started from 9 am to 6 pm local time, 5,001 out of 5,735 legitimate voters went to three polling stations to cast their vote, with a turnout rate of more than 87 percent.

Song Man Lei, the president of the management committee of Macao SAR chief executive election, said that the voting was going on smoothly and the preliminary result would be audited on Monday by a general audit committee for this election.

The full list of the names of the chief executive election committee will be published in the Macao SAR Gazette, once the electoral process and its subsequent auditing process were completed, she added.

According to the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, the chief executive, with a five-year tenure for each term, shall be elected by a broadly representative election committee in accordance with the law and appointed by the central government.

Among the 400 members of chief executive election committee, 344 were elected on Sunday. Others will come from members of the Legislative Assembly of Macao, Macao deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, members of Macao Municipal Council, and representatives from religious sector.