No surprise: Beijing’s pick Lam chosen as Hong Kong’s leader
HONG KONG — The candidate favoured by China’s Communist leadership was chosen as Hong Kong’s new leader on Sunday, in the first such vote since huge pro-democracy protests erupted over the semiautonomous Chinese city’s election system in 2014.
A committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites selected Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s former No. 2 official, as the financial hub’s chief executive even though she was far less popular than her main rival. Lam received 67 per cent of the votes cast by the 1,194-member committee.
Her victory was hardly a surprise. China’s leaders had lobbied heavily behind the scenes for the 59-year-old Lam, who will become Hong Kong’s first female leader and its fourth since British colonial control ended in 1997. After the votes were counted, she bowed to the crowd and shook hands with the second-place finisher, former Finance Secretary John Tsang.
Some pro-democracy supporters in the official seating area yelled slogans and held up a yellow umbrella, the symbol of the 2014 protests, as the results were announced. The elite election committee was at the root of the protests, with activists decrying the lack of a direct choice by Hong Kong’s 3.8 million registered voters.