The naming of John Lee as Hong Kong’s new leader – after a closed voting process in which he was the sole candidate – is being widely seen as a move by the Chinese government to tighten its grip on the city, according to the BBC.
Lee replaces outgoing chief executive Carrie Lam, who had served since 2017.
Lee is considered a staunch Beijing supporter, who oversaw the sometimes violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters in 2019.
The former Chief Secretary and the city’s second-highest ranking official was always tipped to be the favourite in replacing Lam, who had earlier announced that she did not want a second term in office.
Hong Kong’s leaders are selected by a closed-circle committee of around 1 500 members, who are nearly all pro-Beijing loyalists. This time there was only one contender for them to elect.
The BBC reports that, although Lee has Beijing’s backing, he is deeply unpopular for his role in overseeing the crackdown on protesters during demonstrations over a controversial extradition bill in 2019.
Lee continued to back the bill despite the unrest, and came under intense criticism for sanctioning the police’s use of water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas and occasionally live ammunition to disperse protesters.
In 2020, he also backed the imposition of a controversial national security law which criminalised most forms of political protest and dissent, and reduced the city’s autonomy.
Lee maintained that the law would help restore ‘stability from chaos’, according to the report.
His role in the implementation of the law led to US sanctions against him and a dozen other officials, and a YouTube block on his 2022 election campaign.
The League of Social Democrats – one of the only remaining pro-democracy groups – held a three-person protest before polls opened, chanting ‘power to the people, universal suffrage now’.
The BBC quotes protester Vanessa Chan as saying: ‘This is what John Lee’s new chapter looks like, a shrinking of our civil liberties.’
[Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/hong-kong-city-urban-cityscape-1990267/]