Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang's decision not to run for the post of chief executive will disappoint many. While not expecting her to win, they still wanted Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to have a fight on his hands.
As many commentators have said, the outcome of the election is a foregone conclusion: Mr Tsang is sure to win another term since that's what Beijing wants. There is little hope that Mrs Chan, or any other candidate, could win this election; its outcome is entirely within Beijing's control.
There is a contradiction between the city's so-called 'high degree of autonomy' granted by Beijing and the inability of Hong Kong people to decide who their leader and legislators will be. That was explored at a seminar last week with visiting Stanford professor Larry Diamond.
At the seminar, law professor Albert Chen Hung-yee of the University of Hong Kong pointed out that, while Hong Kong is a city with civil liberties and the rule of law, it does not have democracy.
Professor Chen said that in the United States, each state 'practises autonomy in the sense that people in the state can elect their own governor and members of their legislature ... However, this is apparently not how autonomy is understood in contemporary Chinese political culture ...
'Beijing's understanding of Hong Kong's autonomy seems to be that of Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong [instead of mainland officials doing so]. But Hong Kong people who hold key governmental posts must be people whom Beijing considers acceptable and trustworthy'.