John Lee was confirmed as Hong Kong’s next chief executive after a campaign that critics called absurd, after Beijing backed his candidacy and no one else ran.
Lee, a former security minister and police officer, received 1,416 votes Sunday from the 1,461-member “patriots only” selection committee, which consists mostly of pro-Beijing politicians and businessmen and represents 0.02% of the city’s 7.4 million population. .
“I will do my best to convince anyone [sic] he doesn’t agree with me because it’s my duty to let people know what I can do for them, “said Lee, who will succeed his outgoing CEO Carrie Lam when he is sworn in on July 1.
Most of Hong Kong’s political opposition is in prison or has fled the city after Beijing imposed a broad national security law following pro-democracy protests in 2019. The measure was used to crack down on individuals and organizations considered disloyal to the government.
But authorities were still trying to sell the new leader to the city’s residents, who had been permanently deprived of the right to vote by Beijing’s political reforms.
The last major overhaul in 2021 was called “patriots ruling Hong Kong” and led to the introduction of a vetting process for all candidates. He also reduced the number of directly elected deputies in the city’s legislature.
Thousands of banners and other promotional materials for Lee’s campaign were scattered around the city ahead of Sunday’s vote, for which local authorities allocated more than HK $ 220 million ($ 28 million), although Lee is running without controversy and support from the central government Ointment assured him.
In previous elections, Beijing signaled its preference for a candidate, but allowed rivals who often drew votes from Hong Kong’s business elite.
“[Lee] it will be approved anyway. So it can be said that this is a waste of time and money, “said John P. Burns, an honorary professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong. “There is a sense of unreality and absurdity in him.”
Ho-Fung Hung, an associate professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University who studies Hong Kong politics, said the election was a charade. “Now there is no competitor, it is already a clean facade,” he said.
But political analyst Sonny Lo said it was important for Beijing to go through the election process. “Beijing cares about the legitimacy of these elections, as they symbolize the realization of the Hong Kong style of democracy,” he said.
Lee, 64, made several choreographic visits to the campaign with pre-selected families in old apartment buildings and held a rally on Friday that members of the public were not allowed to attend. Prior to that, his campaign held a live TV forum.
A total of 1,428 votes were cast on Sunday, with only eight opposing Lee’s appointment and four deemed invalid. Another 33 members of the commission did not vote.
Lau Siu-kai, a Beijing adviser and vice president of the Hong Kong and Macao Research Association, a semi-official think tank, has rejected criticism of the “patriotic” process of electing leaders. High turnout and a percentage of approval for Lee “reflect a high degree of unity among the Patriots,” he said.
“[Beijing] he never said that democratization was the main preference, “he said. “The process is also useful for [reassure the central government] that Hong Kong will not become a threat to national security. “
Local businesses and real estate moguls are pushing for Lee to revive Hong Kong’s pandemic economy after the city reported worse-than-expected contractions in GDP by 4 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2021.
“If we do not loosen up [Covid-19] restrictions when other places in the region alleviate them. . . our economy will not be able to recover for a long, long time, ”said Stuart Leung, vice chairman of the real estate conglomerate Wheelock Properties and a member of the small circle selection committee.
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But Patrick Healy, chairman of Cathay Pacific and also a member of the committee, told pro-Beijing media that Hong Kong had gone through an “extremely successful period” and expressed hope that Lee could provide “stability and security”.
Cathay, the de facto carrier of the flag, has experienced a 99% drop in passenger traffic from pre-pandemic levels as a tough policy for zero Covid in the territory has called into question its status as an aviation hub.
Strict entry restrictions imposed as Covid’s death toll in Hong Kong rose to its highest in the world in March led to evictions, with the city reporting a net loss of more than 140,000 residents this year last month.
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