Donations flooded in to office of security hardliner despite lack of any rivals to beat for job of chief executive
in the former British colony, received the donations in cash, and bought three banknote counters and a safe for the funds.
Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral processes in early 2021, cutting direct representation and introducing a “patriots only” requirement in a move that critics say ensured no candidate could be chosen without the support of the central authorities. Under the new system, a committee of about 1,500 mostly pro-Beijing business and other stakeholders choose the city’s leader in closed-circle elections from vetted candidates.Hong Kong’s pro-democracy political opposition has been all but crushed under a national security crackdown since mid-2020, with the overwhelming majority behind bars pending trial, withdrawn from public life or in self-imposed exile.
Lee’s spend on social media advertisements was more than six times that of previous chief executive Carrie Lam’s election campaign in 2017. Lam spent about $300,000 on running her Facebook page during closed-circle elections against two other nominated candidates. Lam in 2017 had raised around HK$18.7m and spent HK$12.5m.
Under Hong Kong’s election laws in 2022, the maximum amount of expenses a chief executive candidate can incur during an election campaign is $17.6m.The former security chief, widely seen as a hardliner and staunch Beijing loyalist, was sworn in as Hong Kong’s chief executive on Friday last week by Chinese president Xi Jinping on the
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