Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor rules out bid for chief executive in 2017
She's heading electoral reform consultation, but chief secretary says she has no interest in standing for chief executive at the 2017 poll
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has made clear that she has no interest in running for the city's top job in 2017.
While senior figures in both the main political camps have been talking about her suitability for the role of chief executive, Lam says she is expecting something else in some three years' time - retirement.
"I don't think I have the ability to run. I have never had any experience of elections and I don't have any political ambition," she told ATV current affairs programme Newsline.
Lam, who is spearheading the government's electoral reform consultation work for the 2017 chief executive election, said she would not be joining the game which she helps set up. "By that time I will be looking forward to a happy retirement," said Lam.
The government No2's most emphatic statement yet on the matter comes after politicians from both the Beijing-loyalist and pan-democratic camps paid her a barrage of compliments.
On January 11, Ng Hon-mun, a former National People's Congress deputy, named Lam in a newspaper article alongside New People's Party lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee and pan-democratic legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing as front runners for the 2017 chief executive election. In the article in Chinese -language daily Ming Pao portraying a hypothetical election "with three female candidates", the Beijing loyalist praised Lam's "high popularity and rich political experience".