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HK CE election 2022
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong chief executive race: is Beijing keen to see a no-contest election, Macau style?

  • Some pro-establishment figures like the idea, but critics warn it might hurt new administration
  • Unlike Hong Kong’s contests for top job, Macau has gone 17 years with ‘one-man show’ elections

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(From left) John Tsang, Carrie Lam and Woo Kwok-hing during the chief executive election in 2017. Photo: Robert Ng
Natalie Wong
In the last of a three-part series on Hong Kong’s coming chief executive election, Natalie Wong examines an emerging debate about the city following the “Macau model” for the leadership post. Read part two here.

With six weeks to go before Hong Kong’s next chief executive is chosen, the city’s political circles are buzzing with talk of the “Macau model” – an uncontested election with only one candidate blessed by Beijing emerging as the clear winner.

Pro-establishment heavyweights said they believed the “one-man show” which had prevailed in Macau for 17 years could work in Hong Kong too, but some observers warned that it could weaken the legitimacy of the city’s new administration and go against its deep-rooted political culture of open debate.

Former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing and Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of a semi-official think tank, were among pro-establishment heavyweights who said the Macau way could prevent infighting within their camp seen in recent leadership races.

The March 27 election is the first for the city’s leader since Beijing overhauled Hong Kong’s electoral system last year to ensure that only “patriots” are in charge, and the winner will be picked by 1,463 members of the powerful Election Committee.

A two-week nomination period begins on February 20, with aspirants subject to a stringent national security vetting process led by Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu. To enter the race, they must also secure no fewer than 188 nominations from Election Committee members, with at least 15 from each of its five sectors.

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