John Lee Secures over 700 Nominations

Lee has secured over three times the necessary nominations

One person is running for the position of Chief Executive, and he already has secured over 700 nominations from almost half of the Election Committee, so is there any point for John Lee Ka-chiu to formally put in his paperwork to participate in the one-horse race?

The one-horse race will cost HK$278 million

But it seems one must go through the motions, and Lee has more than the minimum 188 nominations from the Election Committee, over three times the number... cause no other viable contender has thrown his or her hat into the ring.

"It is time that I let people know the clear indication of standing for the election, so it is appropriate for me to actually register to stand for the election," he said today. 

"I will continue to appeal for people's support. So I will be approaching the Election Committee members again for their support in the eventual voting exercise."

An exercise that will cost taxpayers -- who cannot vote in this election -- HK$278 million (US$35.5 million), with another HK$50 million tacked on because of delays due to the pandemic. 

The 2003 protests led to shelving Article 23

And as expected, one of Lee's priorities if he becomes the next Chief Executive, is to pass Article 23, where the city can enact laws to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, and subversion against the central government, or the theft of state secrets, forbid foreign political organisations from conducting political activities in the region, and to ban political organisations from establishing ties with foreign political organisations.

That seems to be pretty much covered already by the national security law enacted in 2020, but just in case, Article 23 will reinforce this and give the government more leeway to further crush dissent.

As many will remember back in 2003 over 500,000 people came out to protest then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa's attempt to pass the bill, which led to his abrupt exit as well as then security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee.

The then protests caused Ip to lose her job

The current Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said back in February that consultations on Article 23 will begin in May.

Guess there's no point in wasting time...