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Hong Kong chief executive election was ‘a farce’, aide to Regina Ip claims

Government’s former information chief also says ‘clandestine meetings’ took place in Shenzhen involving Beijing officials, liaison office staff and voters

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Chief executive-elect Carrie Lam in Whampoa a day after her victory in the city's leadership race. Photo: Sam Tsang
Hong Kong’s chief executive election is “a farce”, according to a key member of failed candidate Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee’s campaign team who slammed what he called active meddling by Beijing’s liaison office in a poll that violated the “one country, two systems” principle.
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The strongly worded opinion piece– penned by Mark Pinkstone, the government’s former chief information officer – was the clearest suggestion to date that Ip’s team believed Beijing interfered in last month’s election, which Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor won with 777 votes.

Pinkstone, who has known Lam for many years from his civil service career, remained confident she would do well in her new post, but he claimed the former chief secretary would need “strong support to mend fences between the legislature and the public”.

Ip, the New People’s Party chairwoman who was forced to drop out of the race because of insufficient nominations, said she had read Pinkstone’s piece but had “no comment”.

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In the piece, Pinkstone accused the liaison office or its associates of making phone calls to all 1,194 members of the Election Committee responsible for picking the city’s leader. He said the calls urged support for Lam, backed by Beijing, and asked them not to nominate Ip.

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