China's Uncontested Candidate 'Wins' Hong Kong Chief 'Election' with 99% Support

China’s communist regime cemented its stranglehold over Hong Kong on Sunday with an election to replace Chief Executive Carrie Lam that featured one candidate, John Lee, who allegedly received over 99 percent of the vote.

Chinese state media celebrated Lee as “the ideal person for the job” and the “election” as “a new starting point for Hong Kong to create a splendid history.” Lee takes over from the widely unpopular Carrie Lam, who presided over the violent repression of the 2019 anti-communist protests, on July 1 – the anniversary of the United Kingdom surrendering Hong Kong to communist China.

Lee served as Lam’s second-in-command and began his career as a teen in the Hong Kong Police Force. The United States sanctioned Lee following the protests for his role in violently suppressing dissidents.

Hong Kong is ilegally an “autonomous region” under China. Prior to the 2019 pro-democracy protests, China and Hong Kong co-existed uneasily under a policy known as “One Country, Two Systems,” which granted Hong Kong freedom from communist laws in exchange for China gaining military and diplomatic control of the government. In 2020, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) passed a “national security” law forcing Hong Kong police to enforce Chinese government laws, violating One Country, Two Systems.

The law allowed for sweeping arrests of pro-democracy dissidents and largely crushed Hong Kong’s free market and political diversity.

Hong Kong dramatically revised its process for electing a chief executive in the aftermath of the protests, allowing only one candidate to compete this year.

Hong Kong does not hold popular elections for its chief executives, the top executive position in the region. The city’s Election Committee, consisting of about 1,500 members, elects the top leader. As the Chinese-controlled government allowed only one candidate on the ballot this year, Election Committee members were asked to cast ballots to either “support” or “not support” Lee.

Lee participated, as Carrie Lam’s second-in-command, in the selection of Election Commission members.

The Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported on Sunday that Lee received 1,416 votes in “support” and eight votes not supporting him. 1,428 votes were cast in total, meaning four were left blank. China’s anti-protest laws make it illegal to openly support blank protest votes; the Election Committee claimed that four ballots were “invalid,” without clarifying.

The result meant that the “turnout” for the elite election hovered around 97 percent and Lee received 99 percent of the vote.

Despite having no competition, Lee delivered a “victory” speech on Sunday evening reflecting on the alleged hardships of his “campaign” and simultaneously vowing to uphold “diversity” and crush dissident voices.

“We must make good use of our status as an international metropolis, one that upholds the values of inclusion, diversity and openness,” Lee said, shortly before adding, “Under the principle of ‘patriots administering Hong Kong,’ my administration will work in concert with the Legislative Council to raise Hong Kong’s governance capability, foster positive interaction between the administration and the legislature, and strengthen dialogue and communications between officials and legislators to jointly solve problems.”

“Patriots administering Hong Kong” is the Communist Party’s name for the policy of exiling, imprisoning, or otherwise silencing pro-democracy voices, leaving only “patriots” – communist loyalists – with control.

“Having restored order from chaos, it is high time that Hong Kong starts a new chapter of development, a chapter that will be geared towards greater prosperity for all,” Lee asserted.

At a press conference on Monday, Lee defended the violent arrests of dissidents in the aftermath of the 2019 protests and condemned voices in the free world for supporting a free society in Hong Kong.

“I think you are very wrong to describe that people are now charged simply because of their expressed opinions. That is absolutely wrong, and it should not be so described. It is misleading – actually and factually wrong,” Lee berated a reporter who asked about the mass arrests of anti-communists in 2019 and 2020. “People are brought to court because it is suspicious that their actions are contravening the law. It is their action. So that point has to be very clear.”

The NPC “national security” law mandates sentences of a minimum of ten years in prison for those found guilty of “terrorism,” supporting secession from China, inciting “foreign interference,” or “subversion of state power.” Hong Kong residents have been arrested under the law for such crimes as supporting the Liverpool, U.K., soccer team and possessing protest flags and posters. Police have arrested children under the law.

In his remarks on Monday, Lee also described the mostly peaceful anti-China protests attracting millions of people as “years of chaos, internal wastage (of energy) and also attempts to sabotage Hong Kong governance with a high degree of foreign intervention.”

China’s Global Times government propaganda newspaper celebrated Lee as “hardline” and applauded him for having “slammed the US sanctions and foreign interference, reiterating that the bottom-line mindset should be upheld in fighting internal and external risks.”

“With such a high level support, some members and experts considered Lee to be the ideal person for the job, who will help the new government gain more public support, and fight back foreign hostile forces that try to interfere in Hong Kong affairs,” Global Times claimed, citing regime-approved “experts.”

Given their lack of access to decision-making in the process of Lee ascending to the chief executive position, Hong Kong residents largely ignored the “election,” the HKFP noted on Sunday.

“HKFP asked two groups if they knew who the sole chief executive hopeful was. ‘What’s his name again?’ some family members asked, seeking help from relatives,” the local independent outlet observed. “Mrs Kwok, one of the mothers out celebrating with her family, told HKFP that she had not really been following the race.”

“‘It’s going to be an one-horse race anyway. The result has been ‘decided’ [before the election],’ she told HKFP,” the outlet relayed.

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