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Updated March 27, 2017
Hong Kong's 2017 Chief Executive Elections
On March 26, 2017, the Election Committee of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region of China (Hong Kong,
or HKSAR) selected Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to be the
HKSAR's next Chief Executive. Lam will be Hong Kong's
first woman Chief Executive and the fourth Chief Executive
since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997,
after nearly 150 years as a British colony. She defeated two
other candidates, John Tsang Chun-wah and Woo Kwok-
hing. Lam is scheduled to assume office on July 1, 2017.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive has to balance the role of
representing the interests of Hong Kong with the policy
directives of China's central government. Tsang was the
most popular candidate according to two major public
opinion polls (see below), but Lam appeared to be the
candidate supported by
China's central
government. The
HKSAR government's
decision to bring charges
against several of the
leaders of the 2014 pro-
democracy protests
known as the Umbrella
Movement (see CRS In
Focus IF10005, Protests
in Hong Kong: The
Umbrella Movement
(Update)) the day after
Lam's selection may Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor,
have offset goodwill selected to be Hong Kong's
possibly generated by next Chief Executive
her acceptance speech in
which she said, My
priority will be to heal the divide and to ease the
frustration-and to unite our society to move forward.
China's National People's Congress established an
executive-led government in Hong Kong in 1990 through a
mechanism known as the Basic Law. Although the Basic
Law establishing the Chief Executive also provides for a
Legislative Council (Legco) (see CRS In Focus IF10500,
Hong Kong's Legislative Council (Legco)), most
administrative power resides in the hands of the Chief
Executive.
The Basic Law, which many observers refer to as its mini-
constitution, states that [t]he ultimate aim is the selection
of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon
nomination by a broadly representative nominating
committee in accordance with democratic procedures
(Article 45). The Chief Executive, however, has never been
selected by universal suffrage, and despite the hopes of
many Hong Kong citizens, was not selected by universal
suffrage in 2017. On June 18, 2015, Hong Kong's Legco
rejected proposed reforms that would have adopted the
election of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage
because the nomination process was seen as too restrictive
(see CRS Report R4403 1, Prospects for Democracy in
Hong Kong: The 2017 Election Reforms (Update)).
The Election Committee comprises 1,094 members chosen
by 36 designated subsectors of Hong Kong society, plus all
70 Legco members and Hong Kong's 36 deputies to
China's National People's Congress. Fewer than 250,000 of
Hong Kong's nearly 3.8 million registered voters were
eligible to vote in the subsector elections held on December
11, 2016. As a result, many observers do not see the
Election Committee as being a broadly representative
nominating committee, as provided for in the Basic Law.
The Election Committee also serves as the official
nominating committee for Chief Executive candidates.
Candidates had to secure the written support of no fewer
than 150 Election Committee members between February
14 and March 1, 2017, in order to be nominated. Three
candidates were able to secure the necessary 150-member
support-Lam, Tsang, and Woo. A fourth candidate,
Regina Yip Lau Suk-yee, did not gain sufficient support.
On December 9, 2016, current Chief Executive Leung
Chun-ying announced he would not seek reelection for
family reasons. Some observers think he chose not to run
because of waning support from China's central
government and his low popularity ratings among Hong
Kong residents.
To be selected as Chief Executive, a nominee must receive
the support of no fewer than 601 of the 1,200 Election
Committee members. Lam won the election by securing
777 votes. Tsang and Woo received 365 and 21 votes,
respectively.
~TA', Chkf Exe-cuti$v Uzct
Carrie Lam (59) was a career civil servant in the Hong
Kong government from 1980 to 2017. Most recently, she
served as Chief Secretary for Administration, the top civil
service position in Hong Kong, from which she resigned on
January 16, 2017, to run for Chief Executive.
Lam was a prominent representative of the HKSAR
government during the Umbrella Movement, and is
generally seen as supporting the government's decision to
break up the protests. She also headed the HKSAR
government's Task Force on Constitutional Development,
which was responsible for drafting the proposed changes in
electing the Chief Executive that would have permitted
universal suffrage in 2017. The proposal, however, also
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