‘Let’s wait and see’: Legislative Council president keeps Hong Kong guessing on possible run for city’s top job
Jasper Tsang Yok-sing refuses to rule out running for chief executive but says he is flattered by support from those urging him to stand
Beijing will allow at least two pro-establishment candidates, including a top minister in the current administration, to run in the chief executive election next March, according to the Legislative Council president.
Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, who will retire after the Legco term expires in September, does not rule out running for the top job.
“Let’s wait and see,” Tsang told the Post on Monday. “I am fed up with answering this question again and again ... But I am sober enough to understand my limitations.”
Tsang has repeatedly said he will not stand for the city’s top job as he will be 70 next May. But recalling how many people had encouraged him to step up over the past few years, he said: “I am flattered.”
In 2012, Executive Council ex-convenor Leung Chun-ying defeated former chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen to secure the city’s top job by garnering 689 votes from a 1,200-strong election committee. Leung told the Post last week he would wait until after September to decide whether to seek a second term.
His top ministers – Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah – may be possible challengers, according to some commentators.