Former Macao chief executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah received a different kind of present for his 55th birthday when he was elected a vice-chairman of the CPPCC on Saturday.

Ho won big applause, becoming the 26th vice-chairman of the top national advisory body, with 2,057 CPPCC members voting for him, 19 against and 27 abstaining at the last conference of the session.

He pledged to promote ties between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and to strengthen communication between the central government and his city.