Hong Kong elections of new Chief Executive

Hong Kong will hold elections this Sunday, 26 March, to select its new Chief Executive for the next five years.

Back in 2014 the city saw tensions rising as the ‘umbrella revolution’, the term used for pro-democracy protests in the city, hit headlines globally. The protest was against new proposals by Beijing for a popular vote for Chief Executive. This popular vote however was on the condition that Beijing pooled all three candidates, which angered the campaigners.

Now three years later and we see former Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, retired judge Woo Kwok-hing and former Financial Secretary John Tsang all in the running for the top position. Of the 3.8 million citizens, only 1194 people are able to cast their vote in this election. Under the current system, these candidates have already been screened by a nomination committee. Candidates must secure 150 nominations from committee members to run and then win at least 601 votes from the 1194 from the same group to win the election. This article in the Asia Times gives more detail on how Hong Kong’s leader is chosen.

Currently, Carrie Lam is the favourite to take the position. It is said that she has backing from Beijing. A recent poll from South China Morning Post (SCMP) however found that John Tsang was in the lead with the wider population, with a vote of 47 percent compared to that of 30 percent for Mrs Lam. Carrie Lam’s decision to build a museum in Hong Kong backed by Beijing without public consultation sparked backlash in the city and drew more anger at her relationship with China. Even though general popularity is not significant in Sunday’s votes, her lack of it will undoubtedly make her task as Chief Executive, should she win, a challenging one.