It looks like a real political campaign. The front-runner quits his job to stump full time. He sets up a campaign office. Newspapers fill their front pages with headlines about major figures endorsing him.
But scratch away the thin veneer of electioneering, and the event looks like a political charade disguising the fact that there's no real contest. Everyone expects Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) to win the July 10 three-way race because he's widely believed to have the blessing of Beijing.
"The bottom line is, all you can do is laugh about it," said opposition lawmaker Emily Lau (
"In reality there is just one candidate," Lau said.
The election is a product of a partially democratic political system that critics say gives Beijing too much control over the territory. While Hong Kong enjoys Western-style civil liberties, the British never allowed full democracy. China has continued that tradition under a "one country, two systems" formula that's supposed to give Hong Kong a large degree of autonomy.
Hong Kong's leader is picked by an 800-member committee that tends to side with China. Only half of its 60 legislators are elected -- special interest groups choose the rest. Still, the government and Beijing are trying to make the race look real by meticulously following election rules.
Tsang, a career bureaucrat, was serving as Hong Kong's acting leader or chief executive, filling in for Tung Chee-hwa (董建華), who quit in March citing poor health. But Tsang tendered his resignation last week when he announced his candidacy. The law doesn't allow him to campaign while on the job.
Although Tsang is clearly Bei-jing's choice, the communist government has yet to complete a required formality by approving his decision to resign.
It should be a simple decision, but China's Cabinet has taken about a week to rubber stamp it -- creating the impression that there's serious deliberation.
Tsang has refrained from campaigning as he awaits Beijing's word. There are no "Tsang for Leader" signs, no workers wearing campaign buttons.
He's been on TV, feeding fish in his pond at home. Newspaper photos showed him spending time with relatives and wearing jeans as he tends to gardening.
Bold headlines have announced endorsements from business leaders and officials, as if they'll have a big effect on his election chances.
Then there are his weak opponents -- opposition lawmaker Lee Wing-tat (
Polls have also consistently shown Tsang as the public's favorite candidate.
Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor director Law Yuk-kai (
"Everything is absurd," he said.
"There is no real election. There is no real competition. The entity that can do the most in the election is not any candidate, but the central Chinese government," Law said. "What we are doing in Hong Kong is formality."
Law said citizens are victims of the highly controlled process.
"Hong Kong people are most affected by this election, but now they are the most marginalized," he said.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
RSS