John Lee, a hard-line security chief who oversaw a crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was elected as the city’s next leader on Sunday in a vote cast by a largely pro-Beijing committee.
Lee was the only candidate and won with over 99% of the vote in which nearly all 1,500 committee members were carefully vetted by the central government in Beijing.
He will replace current leader Carrie Lam on July 1. Her five-term was marked by huge pro-democracy protests calling for her resignation, a security crackdown that has quashed virtually all dissent, the recent COVID-19 wave that had overwhelmed the health system — events that have undermined Hong Kong’s reputation as an international business hub with Western-style freedoms.
