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Chief executive election 2017
Hong KongPolitics

Regina Ip unsure if gender will be advantage in chief executive race, saying many had looked down on her as a woman

New People’s Party head describes retired judge Woo Kwok-hing’s bid for top job as ‘formidable move’

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Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee emphasised her lack of support from the city’s tycoons and consortiums. Photo: Nora Tam
Danny Mok
Executive councillor Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who disclosed last week that she might join the chief executive race, said on Monday that many people had looked down on her as a woman.

She also described potential rival Woo Kwok-hing’s bid for the city’s top job as a “formidable move”, as his status as a retired judge allowed him to “speak the unspeakable”. She was referring to her position as a legislator and an executive councillor, which limited her ability to freely criticise the current chief executive.

The New People’s Party leader spoke on two separate occasions on Monday. The first, in the morning, was a radio show hosted by former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing.

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Ip said to Tsang that she had been looked down upon by many due to her lack of support from the city’s tycoons and consortiums.

And when she elaborated on this to Commercial Radio chief advisor Stephen Chan Chi-wan in an interview on Monday night, Ip said some had taken the attitude of: “She’s just a woman, what can she do?”

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But she added that she was also respected by many, saying she had no idea whether her gender could be an advantage or not in her run for the top job as Chan had suggested.

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