HONG
KONG — Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam
announced Monday that she will not seek another term as the city’s political
elite prepares to select a new leader next month.
اضافة اعلان
“I will complete my five-year term as chief executive
on June 30, and officially conclude my 42-year career in government,” Lam told
reporters.
Lam said China’s leaders “understood and respected”
her choice not to seek another term, adding that she had informed Beijing about
her intentions in March 2021.
Lam said her “personal wish and aspiration is
entirely based on my family considerations”.
“I have to put my family members first, and they
feel it is time for me to return home,” she said.
A career bureaucrat, Lam became Hong Kong’s first
woman leader in 2017 after being voted in by the small pro-Beijing committee
that selects the position.
Her departure closes the chapter on a controversial
five-year term that saw Beijing ramp up control following huge democracy
protests — and a pandemic response that plunged Hong Kong into international
isolation.
Hong Kongers have little clarity on who will be
their next leader.
The chief executive position is not popularly
elected, one of the core demands of pro-democracy protests which have since been
crushed.
Instead, the position is selected by a 1,500-strong
pro-Beijing committee.
The city’s next leader will be chosen on May 8 but
so far no one with a realistic prospect has publicly thrown their hat into the
ring.
Hong Kong’s number two official, John Lee, who has a
background in the security services, has been tipped by local press as a likely
contender.
Lam said on Monday morning that she has not yet
received any resignations from her ministers, a step that cabinet members like
Lee would need to make before running.
Lam also thanked Beijing for its support and trust
and said her term was affected by “unprecedented pressure” due to the 2019
protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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