Exclusive | Hong Kong chief executive election 2022: sole candidate John Lee to stress government restructuring when he unveils platform on Friday, sources say
- Candidate will deliver long-awaited platform in speech at convention centre but save specifics for maiden policy address, insiders say
- Lee will not say whether he will create two new deputy posts to assist chief secretary and financial chief as rumoured, they add
Other top priorities for Lee would include care for the elderly, technology, youth development and civil service reform, but he was unlikely to definitively state that he would revive a decade-old plan to strengthen the city’s No 2 and 3 positions with deputies, sources said on Wednesday.
“We need to study carefully if the deputy financial secretary would take away too many tasks from the portfolio of the chief secretary and his prospective deputies,” a campaign office insider said. “But it doesn’t mean the two posts will not be set up after Lee assumes the post of chief executive in July or delivers his maiden policy address in October.”
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Hong Kong’s No 2 official John Lee declares bid to become city’s next leader
The source told the Post Lee would only provide an overall policy direction when he reads out his manifesto during an event at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre on Friday. The speech, which will begin at around 11am and is expected to last 30 minutes, will be broadcast live on television and streamed via his Facebook channel.
Lee, the sole candidate with Beijing’s backing, was confirmed by election authorities on April 18 as the only hopeful to have received the required number of nominations to enter the May 8 election.
A preliminary check with sources on the content of his manifesto suggests the city’s former No 2 official will aim to tackle the city’s housing and land woes based on his “new ideology” of a “result-oriented” approach.
According to the insider, Lee will not set hard targets on Friday, such as building a certain number of residential flats each year or reducing the average waiting time for applicants for public housing. He will only propose allowing eligible tenants to move into new public blocks earlier while other structures at the same estate are still under construction.
