Hong Kong’s leader-in-waiting, John Lee, is expected to be endorsed for the city’s top job on Sunday by a committee stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists, as the financial hub attempts to relaunch itself after several years of political upheaval.
Lee arrived at a harbourfront convention centre in the morning to greet delegates from a pro-Beijing election committee, with a simple majority from around 1,500 members required to anoint him as Hong Kong’s next leader.
A small protest consisting of three activists from the League of Social Democrats also took place nearby. The activists, who chanted various pro-democracy slogans, were prevented from walking close to the election venue to protest.
Former deputy leader Lee has pledged to relaunch Hong Kong as an international city and bolster its competitiveness, amid concerns among some Western governments, including the United States, that freedoms and the rule of law have been undermined by the security legislation that was imposed by Beijing in 2020.
