Hong Kong civil servant becomes first female chief executive

“This carries a strong implication: Lam won only with establishment’s votes”.

Although Leung claimed that he chose not to stand for reelection so as to spend more time with his family, it is widely presumed that, in light of his dismal popularity ratings, the Chinese leadership in Beijing asked him to step aside for Lam.

Recent polls showed that Lam’s popularity rating at 30%, trailing her major challenger, ex-financial chief John Tsang Chun-wah, by almost 20 percentage points.

Hong Kong police have started a crackdown on pro-democracy lawmakers and activists, informing at least nine people they will be charged for their involvement in a series of street protests more than two years ago.

Leung won the 2012 election with 689 votes, earning the number as a derogatory nickname. A third candidate, retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, received 21 votes. On one was written a large Chinese character, meaning “fuck”.

Good morning. I have just had a very good meeting with Mrs Carrie Lam.

In yesterday’s election, only about 60 pro-Beijing votes are believed to have gone to Tsang, who had been promised 300 votes by the pan-democrats. But pro-democracy legislators opposed the change. The others are former student protest leaders Eason Chung and Tommy Cheung, as well as the founders of the Occupy Central movement, Benny Tai, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming and Chan Kin-man.

After winning an election conducted amongst Hong Kong’s biggest Beijing supporters, 59-year-old former civil servant Carrie Lam said her priority would be to “heal the divide” in Hong Kong society, vowing to form a government based on talent, not connections. Many city residents are calling Sunday “Selection Day”, since they won’t be allowed to vote directly. But the public backing for John Tsang also revealed a level of discontent among the people of Hong Kong over Beijing’s increasing interference in Hong Kong’s affairs, supposedly protected by the “One Country, Two Systems” framework.

However, critics say she lacks the public mandate needed to mend a divided society. Days before the vote, Mr Leung warned that Hong Kong’s autonomy would be at risk should the election committee pick a candidate whom the party disliked-a clear hint that its members should vote for Mrs Lam.

Political party Demosisto, founded by the young pro-democracy protest leader Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), said in a Facebook post that “this result is a nightmare to Hong Kongers”.

Lam previously served as Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration and was China’s preferred candidate in the race.

“We have been waiting for 20 years now and the electoral law is still not fair or democratic”, said Martin Lee, a veteran pro-democracy campaigner.

Her recent plans to build a branch of Beijing’s Palace Museum in Hong Kong without consultation have warranted concerns from the corruption watchdog. [Reuters edit no. 7112 – 00’26] “Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness and has accumulated a lot of frustration”.

Ms Lam will become the city’s first female chief executive after she received 777 out of 1,163 votes cast by an election committee made up of political, business and trade elites who commonly vote in accordance with the wishes of Beijing.

“In the last election, Beijing authorities only made up their minds in the last week, so it was more hard for them to consolidate the pro-establishment votes”, political analyst Ivan Choy told The Business Times.