Incumbent president of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council Andrew Leung re-elected unopposed
- With no opposition to put forward a challenger, the pro-establishment veteran was confirmed head of the new Legco minutes after the nomination period closed
- It was the first time since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule that a Legco presidential hopeful ran unopposed.
The incumbent president of Hong Kong’s legislature has been re-elected to the post after running unopposed in the first one-man race for the body’s top position since the city’s return to mainland China in 1997.
With no opposition camp to put forward a challenger, pro-establishment veteran Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen was confirmed as head of the new Legislative Council just minutes after the nomination period closed on Tuesday – unprecedented for a process that once required days of debates before consensus was reached.
After Tuesday’s announcement, Leung played down the lack of competition for the body’s top post.
“In the past, there were competitions between the pro-establishment and the opposition camp,” he said. “But whether that is a real competition, people would already have an answer in their minds.”
Last month’s Legco election, the first since Beijing overhauled Hong Kong’s political system to ensure only “patriots” held office, had raised questions of representation, despite officials’ assurances that candidates came from diverse backgrounds. In the end, every seat in the now 90-member legislature went to pro-establishment candidates, save one, which went to a third-party centrist.
