As aspirants for Hong Kong’s top job announce their bids, focus turns to where Beijing’s favour lies
On paper, it looks like Lam is poised for a victory. But with four candidates, there’s still stiff competition to reach the magic number of votes
Now that Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has declared her bid for the chief executive post and pundits have labelled her Beijing’s preferred candidate, she must be a shoo-in for the job, a novice watcher of Hong Kong politics might be tempted to conclude.
On paper, it would appear so, but even in a democratically-deficient set-up, choice – and the secrecy of the ballot – has a way of quashing such assumptions. The short history of the chief executive elections has also shown there is only so much Beijing can control.
And in this current election, there is the complicated and unprecedented scope for spoiler votes, as it is now a four-horse race, at least in the first round.
The first to declare his chief executive bid, retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, who is believed to be relying mainly on the pan-democrats for support, has not been seen as a formidable contender since he came forward in October.