Beijing loyalist John Lee elected as Hong Kong’s next leader

HONG KONG — John Lee, a hard-line safety chief who oversaw a crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy motion, was elected as town’s subsequent chief on Sunday in a vote forged by a largely pro-Beijing committee.

Lee was the one candidate and gained with over 99% of the vote through which almost all 1,500 committee members have been fastidiously vetted by the central authorities in Beijing.

He’ll change present chief Carrie Lam on July 1. Her five-term was marked by big pro-democracy protests calling for her resignation, a safety crackdown that has quashed just about all dissent, the latest COVID-19 wave that had overwhelmed the well being system — occasions which have undermined Hong Kong’s standing as a global enterprise hub with Western-style freedoms.

“I look ahead to all of us beginning a brand new chapter collectively, constructing a Hong Kong that’s caring, open and vibrant, and a Hong Kong that is stuffed with alternatives and concord,” Lee stated in his victory speech.

Lam congratulated Lee in an announcement and stated she would submit the election outcomes to Beijing.

The election adopted main adjustments to Hong Kong’s electoral legal guidelines final 12 months to make sure that solely “patriots” loyal to Beijing can maintain workplace. The legislature was additionally reorganized to all however eradicate opposition voices.

The flowery preparations surrounding the pre-determined consequence communicate to Beijing’s want for a veneer of democracy. The committee members voted in a secret poll, and Lee’s 1,416 votes have been the best help ever for town’s high management place.

The Chinese language authorities’s liaison workplace in Hong Kong additionally congratulated Lee and stated the election was carried out in a “truthful, simply and orderly method in accordance with legal guidelines and rules.”

Mainland China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Workplace of the State Council stated in its congratulatory observe that the “profitable election” proved that town’s new electoral system is “good” and according to the “one nation, two programs” framework that Hong Kong is ruled by.

Critics say freedom of speech and meeting that Hong Kong was promised to maintain for 50 years when it was handed over by Britain to China in 1997 has vanished as Beijing exerts larger management over the territory.

On Sunday morning, three members of the League of Social Democrats, an area activist group, protested the election by trying to march towards the election venue whereas displaying a banner demanding common suffrage that might enable Hong Kongers to vote each for the legislature and the chief govt.

“Human rights over energy, the persons are larger than the nation,” the banner learn. “One individual, one vote for the chief govt. Instantly implement twin common suffrage.”

One protester was handing out flyers earlier than police arrived and cordoned them off. Police additionally searched the protesters’ belongings and took down their private particulars, although they made no fast arrests.

The professional-democracy camp in Hong Kong has lengthy demanded common suffrage, which they are saying is promised in its mini-constitution, the Primary Legislation. It was additionally a key demand throughout huge protests in 2014 and 2019.

Lee’s position as Hong Kong’s subsequent chief has sparked concern that Beijing may additional tighten its grip. He spent most of his civil service profession within the police and safety bureau, and is a staunch supporter of a nationwide safety regulation imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 to stamp out dissent.

As safety secretary throughout 2019 clashes between police and demonstrators, he oversaw using tear fuel and rubber bullets and arrests that snuffed out additional protests.

Greater than 150 folks have been arrested underneath the safety regulation, which outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with international forces within the metropolis’s affairs. Nearly all distinguished pro-democracy activists have been jailed, with others fleeing overseas or being intimidated into silence.

Hundreds of residents have left town of seven.4 million folks amid the 2019 protests and subsequent harsh pandemic restrictions, together with many professionals and expatriates.

In his election marketing campaign within the weeks main as much as Sunday’s polls, Lee pledged to enact long-shelved native laws to guard in opposition to safety threats and vowed to extend housing provide on the earth’s most costly actual property market.

He additionally stated he would enhance town’s competitiveness and set a agency basis for Hong Kong’s improvement.