New HK Leader a Forgone Conclusion

Newly anointed Chief Executive-elect Lee with wife Janet

Well what do you know -- John Lee Ka-chiu is going to be the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong!

What a surprise.

Of the 1,428 votes cast, he received 1,416 of them -- 99.15 percent of the votes. It's not hard if you are the only candidate.

How can this even be called an election, despite the charade of having people voting for him. He even greeted voters before they cast their ballot which in a real election would have been a no-no.

Lee earlier greeted voters as they arrived

Nevertheless this is the result Beijing wants -- Hong Kong style democracy with Chinese characteristics, where you have a one-horse race where only 0.0002 percent of the population are eligible to vote.

For the record it only took 23 minutes to count all the votes.

"Lee was nominated by 796 Election Committee members and won 1,416 votes. this showed that he was supported by the majority of the committee members, and faces the expectations of the vast majority of Hong Kong residents," said Xinhua of the result. 

While Lee was showered with praise in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the rest of the people not allowed to cast a ballot were resigned, angry or shrugged.

Just before the vote, three activists from the League of Social Democrats staged a mini protest. "Power to the people, universal suffrage now" they chanted as they marched towards the voting venue, though they were stopped by police.

Three lone protesters before the election

When asked by a reporter for his response that his performance will face challenges because of the lack of an electoral mandate, Lee replied:

"My election has been run according to the laws of Hong Kong. The election was conducted in a very transparent and fair manner. Anybody who is legally qualified can take part and run for election. I received a total of 1,416 votes and with that number of support, of course, it encourages me and gives me the strong confidence that my direction is agreed upon and shared by lots of Election Committee members."

He also said that the chief executive is accountable to both Hong Kong and Beijing, and that the two are connected. Lee added what Beijing wants to see in the city and what Hong Kong people want to see should be similar.

If only it were that simple...

A joke going around Twitter: 689 (Leung Chun-ying) + 777 (Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor) - 50 Years of no change = 1,416.