Carrie Lam will get nowhere unless Beijing drops its hardline stance on Hong Kong
Former Democratic Party leader Emily Lau says the city’s next leader must persuade the central government to respect the views of Hongkongers
To the over seven million people in Hong Kong, the process was nothing but a joke because most of them had no say. Only 1,194 members of the Election Committee could vote, and these privileged few were elected by a quarter of a million people drawn from the commercial, political and professional elite.
However, it was not for the Election Committee members to decide who could be chief executive, as Beijing insisted on having the final say. Therefore the so-called electoral process was just a smoke screen for Beijing’s appointment.
Although Mrs Lam won the election, she lost heavily to Mr Tsang in the popularity contest. This was mainly due to mistakes she made during the election campaign and because mainland officials had lobbied furiously on her behalf, using thuggish methods to intimidate and bully some Election Committee members into supporting her.
Such coercive methods angered and upset many Hong Kong people, who failed to understand why the central government could not allow the three candidates, who are all from the pro-establishment camp, to fight it out.
According to the Basic Law, whoever wins the election can only become chief executive if he or she is appointed by Beijing. But obviously that is not enough. Beijing has to intervene from beginning to end, thus turning the electoral process into a farce.