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Regina Ip for Hong Kong chief executive? Veteran lawmaker ‘weighing Legco run and third bid for top job’
- Hard for Ip to decide, as elections for Legco and chief executive post only months apart, insiders say
- Former security chief tried in 2012 and 2017, but did not get Election Committee nod for leadership race
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Veteran Hong Kong pro-establishment lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is likely to announce her bid for re-election to the Legislative Council, as she might be unable to secure Beijing’s blessing to run for chief executive of the city, the Post has learned.
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Sources said the timing of elections for Legco and the city’s leadership – just three months apart – had made it difficult for her to decide whether to try a third time for the top job.
The Legco poll was postponed from September last year to December 19 this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the chief executive will be chosen in March next year.
Insiders said Ip, 71, initially thought it would be logical to step down as a lawmaker and focus on the leadership race.
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But she also had to consider whether she would receive Beijing’s blessing to run for the city’s top post and whether a Legco campaign without her would be in the best interests of the New People’s Party, which she founded and has led since 2011.
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