2022 Hong Kong Chief Executive election had just 1 candidate: What was HK's response to this?
I'm possibly overlooking something in this Wikipedia page 2022 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, but... it says:
Former Chief Secretary John Lee is the sole candidate approved by the central government of China in the election and the only candidate to be nominated.
and then
This is the first sole-candidate election since the Chief Executive Election Ordinance was amended in 2006 which requires a vote of support.
Questions:
-
Do I misunderstand that China basically said 'We'll allow only 1 person, namely John Lee (who is pro-Beijing and not pro-democracy or neither), in this election' ?
-
What was HK's reaction to this 1 candidate election?
The closest I can see to an answer to Q2 in the page is:
League of Social Democrats (LSD), one of the only remaining pro-democracy groups, held a three-person protest before polls opened, chanting "power to the people, universal suffrage now". Vanessa Chan, chairwoman of LSD, criticised John Lee for shrinking civil liberties in his "new chapter".[84] Stand with Hong Kong, an activist organization based in overseas, called the leadership race a "sham election", and urged "democratic countries across the world" to not recognise the race.[80]
- 2.1. That's it?! I thought it would indeed be seen as a sham election like in North Korea where they have just 1 party, and everyone votes for that party. But well I guess not really because technically you could vote no? So what would've happened if it were no anyway?
- Quick question, the only political camps in HK are pro-Beijing, pro-democracy and neither (eg Woo Kwok-hing in 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election) right?
