Beijing loyalist John Lee elected as Hong Kong’s next leader
John Lee, a hard-line security chief who oversaw a crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was elected as the city’s next leader on Sunday in a vote cast by a largely pro-Beijing committee.
Lee was the only candidate and won with over 99% of the vote in which nearly all 1,500 committee members were carefully vetted by the central government in Beijing.
He will replace current leader Carrie Lam on July 1. Her five-term was marked by huge pro-democracy protests calling for her resignation, a security crackdown that has quashed virtually all dissent, the recent COVID-19 wave that had overwhelmed the health system — events that have undermined Hong Kong’s reputation as an international business hub with Westernstyle freedoms.
“I look forward to all of us starting a new chapter together, building a Hong Kong that is caring, open and vibrant, and a Hong Kong that is full of opportunities and harmony,” Lee said in his victory speech.
Lam congratulated Lee in a statement and said she would submit the election results to Beijing.
The election followed major changes to Hong Kong’s electoral laws last year to ensure that only “patriots” loyal to Beijing can hold office. The legislature was also reorganized to all but eliminate opposition voices.
The elaborate arrangements surrounding the predetermined outcome speak to Beijing’s desire for a veneer of democracy. The committee members voted in a secret ballot, and Lee’s 1,416 votes were the highest support ever for the city’s top leadership position.
Without opposition, Lee would likely have easier time governing Hong Kong compared to Lam, said Ivan Choy, a senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Department of Government and Public Administration.
“A major reason for easier governance is that the electoral system has changed,” he said. “In the legislature and the election committee, there is almost no political opposition and the political spectrum is concentrated towards the pro-establishment camp.”
“With no democrats, it will be easier for the chief executive to govern as there are fewer checks and balances,” he said.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that Lee’s election “violates democratic principles and political pluralism in Hong Kong.”
“Selection process is yet another step in the dismantling of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle,” Borrell tweeted.
The Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong congratulated Lee and said the election was conducted in a “fair, just and orderly manner in accordance with laws and regulations.”
Mainland China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said in its congratulatory note that the “successful election” proved that the city’s new electoral system is “good” and in line with the “one country, two systems” framework that Hong Kong is governed by.
Critics say freedom of speech and assembly that Hong Kong was promised to keep for 50 years when it was handed over by Britain to China in 1997 has vanished as Beijing exerts greater control over the territory.