Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2012
Encyclopedia
An election will be held on March 25, 2012 to select the Chief Executive of Hong Kong
. The incumbent Chief Executive Donald Tsang
is barred from seeking a third term pursuant to the Basic Law of Hong Kong. The fourth Chief Executive term will begin on 1 July 2012. The CE will be elected by an 1200-member Election Committee
(EC) (which represented about 0.01% of Hong Kong's population). It is widely expected a pro-Beijing candidate would win in a landslide.
resigned from government in late September 2011 and is considered the first choice of Beijing. After Wikileaks
had exposed that Convenor of the Executive Council Leung Chun-ying decided to run for the post in 2009, Leung announced his plan to run for the post on 9 September 2011 and resigned his post in the government in mid September 2011. Besides Tang and Leung, Rita Fan
and Regina Ip
also expressed their interests in running for the post. In the present situation, Henry Tang
, Leung Chun-ying and Albert Ho
are now can be sure will run for the election. Regina Ip
is still "Carefully considering for the running the post". As for Rita Fan
, she had announced that she won't participate because of "The problem on her age is getting older", therefore it's not suitable for being a chief executive. But the secret hindens behind is that the pressure came from Beijing
which made her final decision.
who contested the CE election last time expressed an interest in standing again but later announced that the Civic Party
would not join the election. Albert Ho
, the chairman of the Democratic Party
decided to run for the post on 4 October 2011.
Frederick Fung
(Non-Officially Candidate) has also expressed his interest on running the post.
On 4 August, 2011 Li Ka-shing tried to show public support for Tang at a public "Interim Results announcement meeting" for Hutchison Whampoa
and praised Tang for five full minutes. Then Li slipped and said "You all can be just like me, one-person-one-vote (一人一票)." The media then looked at Li in disbelief, and started screaming that regular citizens don't get one-person-one-vote. Li tried to laugh it off and said "maybe in 2017 they will have one-person-one-vote to choose the chief executive, I probably just said it a little early."
specifically said Leung Chun-ying and Henry Tang were inviting 10,000 people out to wine and dine on public expenses, and that this has been unfair and irresponsible when neither appears to want to run for chief executive. Rita Fan have also flip flopped
multiple times. She wanted to run when she was the most popular. When Tang showed his intention to run, she stepped back and said Tang was an acceptable candidate. When Henry Tang's supposed "mistress", Yuen sa-nei (袁沙妮) came out, she didn't support him anymore.
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is the President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and head of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The position was created to replace the Governor of Hong Kong, who was the head of the Hong Kong government during British rule...
. The incumbent Chief Executive Donald Tsang
Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, GBM, KBE is the current Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Government of Hong Kong....
is barred from seeking a third term pursuant to the Basic Law of Hong Kong. The fourth Chief Executive term will begin on 1 July 2012. The CE will be elected by an 1200-member Election Committee
Election Committee
The Election Committee is an 800-member electoral college in the politics of Hong Kong. It was established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong. This article defines the method of electing the Chief Executive. It is renewed every five years when the sitting Chief Executive's term has expired...
(EC) (which represented about 0.01% of Hong Kong's population). It is widely expected a pro-Beijing candidate would win in a landslide.
Pro-Beijing
Chief Secretary Henry TangHenry Tang
Henry Tang Ying-yen, GBM, GBS, JP was the Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong until his resignation in September 2011. He is a candidate in the Hong Kong Chief Executive election of 2012, and believed to be preferred by Beijing....
resigned from government in late September 2011 and is considered the first choice of Beijing. After Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
had exposed that Convenor of the Executive Council Leung Chun-ying decided to run for the post in 2009, Leung announced his plan to run for the post on 9 September 2011 and resigned his post in the government in mid September 2011. Besides Tang and Leung, Rita Fan
Rita Fan
Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai GBM GBS CBE JP was the President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong after the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom in 1997. She was the first woman to hold that position....
and Regina Ip
Regina Ip
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, GBS JP is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong , as well as the co-founder and current chairwoman of the New People's Party and Savantas Policy Institute....
also expressed their interests in running for the post. In the present situation, Henry Tang
Henry Tang
Henry Tang Ying-yen, GBM, GBS, JP was the Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong until his resignation in September 2011. He is a candidate in the Hong Kong Chief Executive election of 2012, and believed to be preferred by Beijing....
, Leung Chun-ying and Albert Ho
Albert Ho
Albert Ho Chun-yan . He is currently secretary general of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China and chairman of the Democratic Party. He is a solicitor and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong....
are now can be sure will run for the election. Regina Ip
Regina Ip
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, GBS JP is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong , as well as the co-founder and current chairwoman of the New People's Party and Savantas Policy Institute....
is still "Carefully considering for the running the post". As for Rita Fan
Rita Fan
Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai GBM GBS CBE JP was the President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong after the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom in 1997. She was the first woman to hold that position....
, she had announced that she won't participate because of "The problem on her age is getting older", therefore it's not suitable for being a chief executive. But the secret hindens behind is that the pressure came from Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
which made her final decision.
Pro-Democracy
Alan LeongAlan Leong
Kah Kit Alan Leong , SC is a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, representing the Kowloon East geographical constituency and leader of the Civic Party. He is also vice-chairperson of the Independent Police Complaints Council.-Early career:...
who contested the CE election last time expressed an interest in standing again but later announced that the Civic Party
Civic Party
Civic Party is a liberal democratic political party in Hong Kong.The Civic Party is currently the third largest political party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, with five members securing seats in the 2008 Hong Kong Legislative Council elections...
would not join the election. Albert Ho
Albert Ho
Albert Ho Chun-yan . He is currently secretary general of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China and chairman of the Democratic Party. He is a solicitor and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong....
, the chairman of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Hong Kong)
The Democratic Party is a pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong. It was established on 2 October 1994. The party is currently the second largest party in the Legislative Council, headed by Chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan and, following the November 2008 merger with the Frontier, had around 745...
decided to run for the post on 4 October 2011.
Frederick Fung
Frederick Fung
Frederick Fung Kin-kee SBS, JP is the former chairman of the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood , a pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong...
(Non-Officially Candidate) has also expressed his interest on running the post.
One person one vote incident
Henry Tang have long been a strong supporter of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest tycoon. In May 2011 Tang even said publicly that all young citizens need to ask themselves why they can't be like Li Ka-shing. This has caused uproars and criticism.On 4 August, 2011 Li Ka-shing tried to show public support for Tang at a public "Interim Results announcement meeting" for Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited or HWL of Hong Kong is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL is an international corporation with a diverse array of holdings which includes the world's biggest port and telecommunication operations in 14...
and praised Tang for five full minutes. Then Li slipped and said "You all can be just like me, one-person-one-vote (一人一票)." The media then looked at Li in disbelief, and started screaming that regular citizens don't get one-person-one-vote. Li tried to laugh it off and said "maybe in 2017 they will have one-person-one-vote to choose the chief executive, I probably just said it a little early."
Pro-Beijing camp flip flop issue
By mid October 2011 there have been complaints that the Pro-Beijing candidiates still have not declared to run for chief executive officially. Pan-democrat Emily LauEmily Lau
Emily Lau Wai-hing JP is one of two vice-chairmen of Democratic Party.She was the convenor of The Frontier...
specifically said Leung Chun-ying and Henry Tang were inviting 10,000 people out to wine and dine on public expenses, and that this has been unfair and irresponsible when neither appears to want to run for chief executive. Rita Fan have also flip flopped
Flip-flop (politics)
A "flip-flop" , U-turn , or backflip is a sudden real or apparent change of policy or opinion by a public official, sometimes while trying to claim that both positions are consistent with each other...
multiple times. She wanted to run when she was the most popular. When Tang showed his intention to run, she stepped back and said Tang was an acceptable candidate. When Henry Tang's supposed "mistress", Yuen sa-nei (袁沙妮) came out, she didn't support him anymore.
Polling
| Date(s) Conducted |
Client/Political Organisation | Sample Size | Henry Tang Ying-yen | Leung Chun-ying | Alan Leong Kah-kit | Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai | Wong Yan-lung | John Tsang Chun-wah | Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee | Emily Lau Wai-hing | Jasper Tsang Yok-sing | Albert Ho Chun-yan Albert Ho Albert Ho Chun-yan . He is currently secretary general of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China and chairman of the Democratic Party. He is a solicitor and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.... |
% Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | |||||||||||||
| Mid Oct | Ming Pao Ming Pao Ming Pao is a Chinese language newspaper published by Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, Ming Pao established four overseas branches in North America, each provides independent reporting on local news and collect local advertisements. Currently, only the two Canadian editions remain: Ming... /HKU POP |
505 | 18.1% | 47.5% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 11.1% | 29.4% |
| 14% | 40.8% | − | 18.7% | − | − | − | − | − | 9.3% | 22.1% | |||
| 23-25 Aug | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 504 | 15.1% | 14.4% | 15.1% | 34.5% | − | − | − | − | 5.1% | − | 19.4% |
| 24-27 Jun | Now TV Now TV Now TV is a 24-hour pay-TV service provider in Hong Kong.It is transmitted through the company's Netvigator broadband network via an IPTV service... |
543 | 13.4% | 27.6% | − | 47.1% | − | − | − | − | 11.8% | − | 19.5% |
| 23-24 May | ATV ATV Home ATV Home , also call aTV1, is one of the free-to-air Cantonese language television channels in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival TVB Jade. Its sister station, ATV World, broadcasts in English... /HKU POP |
N/A | 24.5% | 19.2% | − | 50.0% | − | − | 7.9% | 4.4% | 18.1% | − | 20.5% |
| 16-18 May | Ming Pao Ming Pao Ming Pao is a Chinese language newspaper published by Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, Ming Pao established four overseas branches in North America, each provides independent reporting on local news and collect local advertisements. Currently, only the two Canadian editions remain: Ming... /HKU POP |
537 | 10% | 6% | 14% | 42% | − | − | 12% | − | − | − | 28% |
| 8-10 Mar | ATV/HKU POP | N/A | 21.7% | 12.2% | 16.2% | 45.0% | 19.5% | 3.4% | − | − | − | − | 23.3% |
| 14-15 Jan | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 567 | 28.5% | 14.5% | 27.8% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 0.7% |
| 2010 | |||||||||||||
| Nov | Hong Kong Transition Project | 807 | 53% | 37% | 45% | 60% | − | − | − | − | − | − | 7% |
| 17-24 Nov | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 576 | 43.2% | 13.1% | 25.0% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 18.2% |
| 10-12 Aug | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 551 | 31.5% | 10.7% | 24.5% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 7.0% |
| 18-19 May | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 521 | 32.9% | 16.2% | 28.0% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 8.9% |
| 22-25 Feb | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 517 | 38.2% | 13.3% | 22.0% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 6.2% |
| 2009 | |||||||||||||
| 19-22 Nov | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 503 | 41.9% | 14.6% | 28.1% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 13.8% |
| 25-28 Aug | Ming Pao/HKU POP | 504 | 40.7% | 8.8% | 17.5% | − | − | − | − | − | − | − | 23.2% |