“Lee also picked those with whom there is a comfort level after working alongside them for years,” one insider said.

Among the 21 principal officials tipped to be recruited by Lee, only six were not from the current administration. Two were from Beijing-friendly political parties and four were veterans of the legal, health, commerce and innovation and technology sectors.

Analysts said the proposed line-up reflected Lee’s difficulties in recruiting outsiders to join the government, with sources familiar with the matter suggesting foreign sanctions imposed by the West might have deterred some prospective candidates from joining.

At least seven incumbent officials were either keeping or shifting their portfolios. Eric Chan Kwok-ki, director of the Chief Executive’s Office and previously the head of immigration, was tipped to serve as chief secretary, while Paul Chan Mo-po was due to remain as financial secretary.

Two deputy ministers were to be promoted: Tse Chin-wan as head of the revamped Environment and Ecology Bureau, and Christine Choi Yuk-lin as in charge of the Education Bureau.

Lee also chose to promote six serving and retired civil servants – four administrative officers (AO) and two from professional grades – to join the ministerial ranks as political appointees.

One of the biggest surprises was that Lee chose Commissioner for Labour Chris Sun Yuk-han as the new labour and welfare minister, instead of Nip, as previously reported by some media.

Two-thirds of the posts in the 21-member new administration were likely to be appointed from within the current government.

University of Hong Kong emeritus professor John Burns said the make-up of the governing team indicated considerable continuity with the current administration.

“The structural problems, such as lack of a common platform that could be provided by a governing political party, silos, with each bureau head focused on their own agenda, and coordination problems are likely to continue,” said Burns, who specialises in public administration.

“This is a diverse group and new incentives to work together are absent. Beyond John Lee’s vague manifesto, their priorities are unknown.”

Burns added that the large number of incumbents in the proposed line up could also reflect difficulties Lee faced in recruiting outsiders.

“Lee will need to work hard to persuade us that his government is something new, different, capable, and worthy of our trust and support,” he said.

Lee stressed on the campaign trail that he wanted to reform the civil service work culture, pledging to strengthen Hong Kong’s “governance capability” and establish a loyal, efficient, down-to-earth administration that focused on results.

That included proposals to create a system of rewards and punishment to encourage problem-solving. He also said he would set key performance indicators for accomplishing tasks within the first 100 days of his administration.

Unlike Lam, who served as an administrative officer, Lee started in the police force before becoming security minister.

When Lee was promoted to chief secretary last year, together with the appointment of former police commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung as security chief and former immigration chief Erick Tsang Kwok-wai as constitutional affairs minister, it was thought the days of the “AO era” were numbered.

The civil service system, with the AO corps at the apex, was inherited from the British. Even though it has a reputation for smoothly running the city’s affairs, it has become the target of blame for creating a bloated administration worried over red tape rather than results and for bureaus working in isolation instead of cooperatively.

When Lam started her tenure as leader in 2017, she only brought one outsider – former Democratic Party member and social policy scholar Law Chi-kwong – into her 17-member cabinet.

Among the outsiders whom Lee has brought on board are Algernon Yau Ying-wah, chief executive of Greater Bay Airlines, who is to become commerce and economic development minister, and lawmaker Sun Dong, a chair professor of biomedical engineering at City University, who is slated to head the revamped Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau, according to sources.

Two other current lawmakers, Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, and Federation of Trade Union’s Alice Mak Mei-kuen would become deputy justice minister and chief of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, respectively.

The loss of the three lawmakers will trigger by-elections to fill their seats.

Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said that given the limited talent who could be recruited from the “patriotic camp”, Lee had no choice but to look for ministers from the current administration, which he said was an easier route.

“It remains difficult to convince business elites and professionals to join the government, although the political cost they have to pay now is lower following the demise of the opposition,” he said.

“These people can’t be lured by money, and might also have concerns about the possibility of being sanctioned by foreign countries.”

Even though career bureaucrats would still make up the core of Lee’s team, Lau argued that the “absolute advantage” enjoyed by administrative officers was now gone.

“They have to compete with those from the disciplinary forces and professional grades,” he said.

In the future, pro-establishment parties would have to nurture talent by recommending them to serve as deputy ministers, Lau added.

Additional reporting by Jeffie Lam