Sword-wielding former guard says she wants to be Chief Executive

Lai Hung-mui swung her Chinese sword and posed before reporters on Wednesday, saying she is “hopeful” in getting sufficient nominations for her to run in the Chief Executive election. 

The 52-year-old woman earlier quit her job as a security guard and announced last Sunday that she wants to join the CE race that has been postponed to May 8. 

The nomination period will begin this coming Sunday (Apr 3) until April 16. 

After electoral changes, candidates will have to secure at least 188 nominations -- at least 15 nominations from each of the five sectors -- within the Election Committee in order to run in the CE election. Each member from the 1,448-member EC can only nominate one candidate. 

The high threshold did not stop hopefuls from announcing their bids for the city's top post. Lai and Wu Sai-chuen both staged a press conference on Wednesday where they announced their electoral platforms.  

Lai proposed distributing HK$2,000 of consumption vouchers to Hongkongers every month and HK$50,000 vouchers for students to pay their tuition fees every year. 

She also, astonishingly, suggested canceling all school places allocation system and public exams. The woman also proposed making pre-wedding consultation mandatory for brides and grooms. 

Wu, a former member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, will be participating in the CE race for the fourth time. He proposed offering a 98 percent mortgage to teenagers, so that they can become homeowners more easily. 

He said with such mortgage, a buyer only needs to pay HK$40,000 of down payment to buy a HK$2 million flat. 

Also running in the CE race are Checkley Sin Kwok-lam and Siu Tak-leung.