Carrie Lam vows to ‘heal the divide’ in Hong Kong

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor today becomes Hong Kong’s first female Chief Executive after securing 777 votes from the 1200 strong election committee Sunday, reports the South China Morning Post.

Lam, who served as the Chief Secretary for Administration from 2012, saw off rivals ex-Hong Kong CFO John Tsang Chun-wah, former judge Woo Kwok-hing and former Secretary for Security Regina IP, to head the Legislative Council.

Widely predicted to win, Cambridge educated Lam, 59, triumphed on her “We Connect” platform, promising to heal social divisions, and pledging HK$5 billion public investments education and social care.

In her acceptance speech at the Hong Kong convention centre, she said: “Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness and has accumulated a lot of frustrations. My priority will be to heal the divide.”

Carrie Lam was a contributor to ‘Asia 2025’, a collection of 25 essays on the next decade in Asia, published by Asia House in 2016.