John Lee was confirmed as Hong Kong's next leader after an election, cementing an era of more direct Chinese political control over the once-freewheeling financial hub.
The returning officer at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre said that Lee won 1,416 votes from 1,460 voters. The simple majority needed to confirm his appointment is more than that. The count was completed in less than an hour.
The city's No. 2 position will be taken over by Lee on July 1. He was the only candidate put forward for the election committee that Beijing reformed in 2021.
Sunday's ballot was the city's first in more than two decades without a contest. China's political changes last year made it all but impossible for an opposition candidate to compete and the Communist Party's endorsement of Lee made his victory a foregone conclusion.
I will ensure a smooth transition, said Lam, who last month announced she wouldn't seek a second term.
Lee appeared to be in a good mood on Sunday, greeting voters with elbow bumps or a traditional Chinese courtesy, but he bowed with both hands clasped together. Many of the election committee members posed for photos.
The choice of Lee, who served on the police force for more than three decades before joining the security ministry, epitomizes China's focus on national security after a wave of massive and sometimes-violent democracy protests in 2019. Lee helped implement a Beijing-drafted national security law that resulted in the arrest of 182 people and the closing of at least a dozen news organizations.
Beijing has a designated enforcer who rose through the ranks of a police force and administration that oversaw the transformation of one of the freest cities in the world into one of the most repressed.
After massive demonstrations, the additional security legislation known as Article 23 was put on hold. He has indicated that he will continue the land development projects that he has begun, as he attempts to tackle the city's housing crisis.
Tik Chi-yuen, founder of the centrist Third Side party and an election committee member, did not like the policies. According to Tik, Lee's platform seemed empty and fell short of expectations. He said he cast his vote for Lee in a gesture of goodwill to show that people of different opinions can work together to solve Hong Kong's problems.
There was barely any dissent visible in the city with public gatherings of more than four people still banned due to Covid restrictions and critical speech heavily punished under the National Security Law. Three activists from the League of Social Democrats were stopped by police as they protested in the Wanchai neighborhood.
Before Hong Kong's political elites pick the next city leader, 3 activists from the League of Social Democrats held a lone public protest.
"Power to the people, universal suffrage now," they chanted as they marched to the voting venue amid heavy police presence. pic.twitter.com/VZXcLLdXH1
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