The chief executive election is over, but the more challenging and tumultuous part of the change of government has only just begun. Chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying isn't starting from the same point as his two predecessors Tung Chee-hwa and Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, both of whom enjoyed a comfortable popularity rating of around 70 per cent when elected, as well as unified support within the pro-establishment camp.
Public sentiment against the 'small circle' nature of the election, especially among the younger generation and the middle class, has risen quickly. More than 220,000 people took part in the mock poll on the eve of the election, and more than half cast a blank vote to indicate no confidence in the system.
At one point, Leung's popularity rating had climbed to 50 per cent, but then dropped back amid allegations about his integrity, especially following the as-yet-unsubstantiated accusations by his rival Henry Tang Ying-yen about what he had said in the Executive Council nine years ago. This caused concern about his willingness to safeguard Hong Kong's core values. Despite all these doubts, Leung has held on to a support rating of 35 per cent in public opinion polls, still well ahead of Tang and the pandemocrat Albert Ho Chun-yan.
We will never know how the three candidates would have fared if there had been a real popular election. Sceptics said the writing was already on the wall even before Sunday because of Beijing's strong influence on the Election Committee members. But the writing is equally on the wall that Hong Kong cannot afford to go through yet another saga like this one - the committee was discredited because of insider jockeying, and allegations and scandals within the pro-establishment camp, who dominate the committee.
The central government should recognise that implementing universal suffrage to elect the chief executive in 2017 and the whole of the Legislative Council in 2020 is the first necessary step to pull Hong Kong out of the political impasse and restore the legitimacy of governance institutions.
The way the election was reported in the media, and the negative campaigning and all kinds of allegations - both substantiated and unsubstantiated - that dominated public discussions, have caused increasing scepticism and distrust of the governance institutions. Such election reporting and discussions are disappointing but not unusual; they will probably become the order of the day when universal suffrage arrives in 2017. Hong Kong people are experiencing the teething problems of transition from the politics of anointment to the politics of election.
Hopefully, the 2017 election will induce more policy debates, because once ordinary people have a vote that they know can make a difference to their future, they will not be alienated onlookers following the election like a television soap opera.
