Carrie Lam won the election to become the first female chief executive of Hong Kong on 26
th March 2017.
She is a former student activist that climbed the rungs of the civil service over 36 years and is a tough, possibly divisive Beijing backed leader.
Lam seeks to unify the Chinese ruled city.
Another mission before her is to reinvigorate the economy and address growing social inequalities and high property prices.
Hardline and pro-Beijing tendencies risk seeking social divisions even as the British colony returned to China 20 years ago under once country, two systems formula.
Umbrella Movement was the 2014 protest which demanded complete democracy for Hong Kong. Activists are up in arms against Lam's appointment.
The majority of the China-ruled city's 7.3 million people have no say in deciding their leader.
She /He is chosen from among several candidates by a 1,200-person “election committee” stacked with pro-Beijing and pro-establishment loyalists.
Ms. Lam, who will become Hong Kong's first female chief executive when she takes office on July 1, won 777 votes compared with 365 for her closest rival.
A third candidate got 21 votes.
Hong Kong Government: Know More- Government: Multi-party system
- Chief Executive: Leung Chun-ying
- Chief Justice: Geoffrey Ma
- Chief Secretary for Administration: Matthew Cheung
- Financial Secretary: Paul Chan Mo-po
- Secretary for Justice: Rimsky Yuen
- President of the Legislative Council: Andrew Leung
