Advertisement
Just Saying | Why do so many people in Hong Kong love to hate Regina Ip?
Yonden Lhatoo says the city has unfairly shut out of the chief executive election one of our most controversial yet capable politicians and administrators
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
What is it about Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee that people in this city just won’t give her a chance?
Hong Kong’s “Iron Lady” crashed out of the leadership race on Wednesday, and I daresay it was more to do with the prevailing bias against her than any objective assessment of her ability to do the chief executive’s job.
She could not even muster the minimum 150 nominations required to officially qualify as a candidate. There was barely any support for her from the 1,194-member Election Committee that will pick Hong Kong’s next leader by secret ballot – a small circle of kingmakers, dominated by rubber-stamping pro-establishment forces and Beijing loyalists.
Advertisement
Front runner Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Beijing’s anointed one, grabbed most of the entry tickets from the pro-establishment bloc, while underdogs John Tsang Chun-wah and Woo Kwok-hing divvied up the pan-democratic votes to reach the threshold.
Only Ip failed to make the cut after lobbying committee members and others in 137 meetings, 45 media interviews and 14 district visits.
She spent an estimated HK$5 million to HK$6 million on her doomed campaign.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x