Record number of uncontested seats for Hong Kong Election Committee polls – and Li Ka-shing is not throwing his hat into ring, for the first time since 1997

Analysts said the record number of uncontested seats – the highest since the city’s return to China in 1997 – was in keeping with Beijing’s insistence on a “no surprises” zero-risk approach in the selection of the next chief executive.

Coordinated nominations among the sectors had clearly taken place, they said, as the central government’s preference was to encourage cooperation rather than competition among the political elites. The net effect would be to avoid any eventual splitting of votes in the chief executive race as had happened previously, analysts added.

A notable change in the composition of the committee is the changing of the guard in business-related sectors, with several prominent tycoons deciding not to seek re-election. Billionaires Li Ka-shing, 93, Lee Shau-kee, 93, Peter Woo Kwong-ching, 74, and Henry Cheng Kar-shun, 74, did not throw their hat into the ring this time, marking the first time since 1997 that Li, for example, would no longer be on the committee.

Instead, their children were joining the race, mostly in the real estate and construction subsector — along with a number of mainland China-affiliated businessmen, signalling a new and rising presence on the committee.

Marking the first election to be held under the revamped electoral system imposed by Beijing in March to ensure only “patriots” can hold political office, authorities received a total of 1,056 nominations on Thursday, competing for more than 980 seats, as the remainder are ex officio members.