Why popularity means nothing in race to be Hong Kong’s leader | Act Daily News

Hong Kong
Act Daily News
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It’s marketing campaign season in Hong Kong, and on the streets of the town’s Wan Chai district, John Tsang is getting mobbed.

Moustachioed and gray-haired, the previous monetary secretary poses for selfie after selfie with customers in a busy avenue market.

It’s all a little bit of a shock for the lifelong bureaucrat, beforehand finest recognized for repeatedly flubbing his predictions for the town’s financial progress and running a blog about soccer.

“Everywhere I go, I get really good, friendly reception from citizens of Hong Kong who I have never met,” he informed Act Daily News.

He has purpose to wish to be well-liked. Tsang – often known as “Mr Pringles” for his resemblance to the snack brand – is presently standing to be the town’s subsequent Chief Executive.

According to a latest ballot by the South China Morning Post, Tsang is 14 factors away from his nearest rival for the job, Carrie Lam.

Despite this nevertheless, Lam is agency favourite to win Sunday’s contest. Because in Hong Kong – regardless of the polls, the general public debates, and the political promoting littering the streets – most individuals don’t get a vote.

Only 1,194 folks – 0.01% of the inhabitants – on a “broadly representative” election committee get to decide on who turns into the town’s subsequent chief.

Scrapping the committee – which is dominated by pro-Beijing pursuits and toes the Party line – was a key demand of the “Umbrella Movement” pro-democracy protests which shut down components of the town for months in 2014.

Joshua Wong, one of many leaders of the 2014 protests, informed Act Daily News the “most important thing for us in the short term” is to struggle for the correct to vote for the subsequent Chief Executive.

He vowed to return to the streets if the political reform course of isn’t resumed.

In a televised debate final week, Lam acknowledged the significance of public opinion.

“I trust Hong Kong people 100%. So when the mainstream opinion is different from mine, I will definitely accept Hong Kong people’s opinion,” she mentioned.

“If public opinion renders me unsuitable to serve as chief executive, I will resign.”

Lam – Act Daily News has requested an interview – is aware of from expertise the difficulties of governing a metropolis that has turned in opposition to its chief.

She served as deputy to Hong Kong’s outgoing Chief Executive CY Leung, whose approval ranking fell from 56.5 factors in his first months in workplace in 2012, to 35 factors this 12 months, in accordance with common surveys by Hong Kong University.

Leung was a shock darkish horse winner in opposition to early favourite Henry Tang in 2012, who was introduced down by revelations he constructed an unlimited basement in his house with out planning permission. Leung, a former surveyor, squeaked via the election committee with simply 689 votes, a complete that will later change into his mocking nickname.

That lack of widespread help even among the many elite harm Leung, who confronted repeated mass protests all through his tenure, mentioned Duncan Innes-Ker, Asia regional director for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“Some Beijing officials appear to feel that the relatively narrow margin of victory that Leung secured served to undermine his legitimacy,” he mentioned.

That might sprint Tsang’s hopes of a shock win, as Beijing will wish to guarantee Leung’s successor has the clear help of the fee, Innes-Ker mentioned.

“John Tsang’s tactic positioning himself as the popular choice has echoes of the 2012 race,” he added. “(But) Carrie Lam has not faced any scandals of similar impact.”

Not that Lam has been gaffe-free. One of her final actions as deputy chief was to approve a controversial Hong Kong model of the Palace Museum, in Beijing’s historic Forbidden City.

The plan was introduced with out public session, and critics shortly seized on an enormous advert for the museum – which depicted the gates of the Forbidden City in entrance of Tiananmen Square – to stage protests calling for justice for the Tiananmen bloodbath of 4 June 1989.

Lam has additionally been harm by a notion that she is out of contact with unusual Hong Kongers. During a tour of the town’s subway system, she was filmed apparently not figuring out how one can use the turnstile. Days later, she admitted to having to return to an official authorities residence she was imagined to have vacated as a result of her new residence had run out of bathroom paper and he or she didn’t know the place to purchase any at evening. (Hong Kong has quite a few 24 hour supermarkets and nook retailers.)

Lam didn’t reply to a request for remark about her reputation with the general public.

While Tsang – a lifelong bureaucrat who has met with senior Chinese leaders together with President Xi Jinping – is hardly an anti-establishment alternative, he has attracted help from pro-democracy legislators and referred to as for the best way Hong Kong’s chief is chosen to be reformed.

“I think for Hong Kong to choose a chief executive that the general population would have trust in, would support, I think that is a very important step,” he informed Act Daily News.

“We all want to have universal suffrage … and this is also something important for the next chief executive because someone who is voted in by the general population would have mandate that a small circle election would not provide.”

Lam didn’t reply to a request for remark about future political reform.

Whoever Hong Kong’s subsequent Chief Executive is, she or he is more likely to get an early style of 2014’s “Umbrella Movement.”

The Chief Executive’s swearing-in date on July 1 will coincide with the twentieth anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from the UK to China. According to native media, round 30,000 police have begun getting ready for a possible go to by President Xi, which Wong and others predict will induce large protests.

“The fight isn’t over,” Wong mentioned. “We’re ready to get back the chance to vote in the election. Don’t just implement selection, we need election.”