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Chief Executive CY Leung hints at re-election bid, says Hong Kong needs to ‘continue the work’ he began

City’s top official claims most of his election promises were fulfilled and fears about ‘one country, two systems’ have been ‘largely eliminated’

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Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying gave a rare 30-minute interview to Xinhua News Agency. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying dropped a hint about running for a second term during a rare interview with a TV channel under China’s official Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, claiming that he had achieved many of his election promises and that Hong Kong needed to continue with the work he had started.

During the 30-minute interview, Leung said nearly all the promises listed on his manifesto when he was running for the city’s top job four years ago had been realised, excepting a few involving long-standing issues such as the retirement protection scheme and standard working hours.

“The implementation of my electoral manifesto has gone quite well ... Basically, almost all [the objectives] that were mentioned in the manifesto were realised,” he said.

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“From the experience in the last four years, it is clear that if we keep going, we will definitely make some progress. I hope everyone can be confident about Hong Kong and themselves, and we need to continue to persevere with the work and do it well.”

The relationship between the administration and the legislature had been improved during his term compared to four years ago, Leung also claimed.

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This was despite the incumbent chief executive’s popularity having plunged to record lows this year according to a public opinion survey conducted Hong Kong University.

The administration had also filed a judicial review against the Legislative Council president’s decision to allow two localist lawmakers to retake their oaths last month.
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