Over 700 nominations secured by CE contender John Lee

Chief Executive hopeful John Lee Ka-chiu has secured over 700 nominations -- nearly half of the 1,463-member Election Committee -- and is set to submit his candidacy application to the Electoral Affairs Office on Wednesday.

In a press briefing on Tuesday night, Lee said he is thrilled after knowing that he has already obtained 700 nominations, which is 200 more than his campaign office’s expectation of one-third of the EC members’ nominations.

As Lee has more than the sufficient 188 nominations -- at least 15 from each EC sector -- needed to run for Hong Kong’s top job, he said he will hand in his nominations to the Electoral Affairs Office on Wednesday.

But Lee said he had to finish writing the manifesto within a limited time, and that he may not be able to cover every aspect, but that does not mean he is not concerned about the missing areas.

He also thanked members of his campaign office for their effort, including calling EC members, as they will be double checking the number of nominations obtained.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Lee met with EC members from the Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association and told a press briefing afterwards that re-introducing the shelved Article 23 bill will be a priority if he is elected but stressed it will not be his only focus.

“[Enacting Article 23] is for the good of Hong Kong, for if we do not manage or deal well with any aspect that is prone to attack, there will of course have a knock-on effect on other areas,” Lee said.

“It is for the stability of Hong Kong. Without it, we will not be able to have prosperity,” he added.

The meeting was followed by two online conferences with around 100 EC members in the afternoon, as some asked Lee to come up with measures to shorten the time needed to build houses, and some hoped for a reopening of borders to help tourism and retailing sectors.

Lee said in the first conference that he emphasizes teamwork, and he also attached a great importance to the expertise of the EC members.

Martin Lee Ka-shing, executive director of Henderson Land Development, proposed during the meeting to simplify the procedure in land development.

“Building transitional housing is not a solution, but shortening the construction time for private and public housing flats is the way to lead citizens out of subdivided flats and help improve the living quality of grassroot families,” Lee said.

Sun Hung Kai Properties executive director Adam Kwok Kai-fai called on the government to cut “red tapes” in the planning and land developing process as well as relax the plot ratio in New Territories.

“Turning a farmland into a housing development currently takes around 10 to 15 years, even if the industry works extremely hard, we still cannot catch up with citizens’ demand given the time needed,” Kwoks said.

He therefore also proposed Lee appointing a top official to supervise the implementation of housing planning once elected.

On the other hand, Melody Kwok Sze-wai, president of the Cosmetic & Perfumery Association, asked Lee to restart negotiations with the mainland to reopen borders if he is elected.

“Beauty parlors have been closed down by the government due to social distancing measures for 246 days since April 2020, and the sales of cosmetic products are also taking a hard hit due to the closure of borders,” Kwok said.

Meanwhile, EC sector lawmaker Peter Koon Ho-ming said if Lee is elected as Hong Kong’s next leader, he will still have to deal with issues related to Chan Tong-kai, who allegedly killed his girlfriend Amber Poon Hiu-wing in Taiwan in 2018.

In response, Lee said the solution is “very simple” as long as Taiwan authorities allow Chan to go to Taiwan and turn himself in, as Chan is willing to do so, and it is an act of justice to allow Chan to go to Taiwan.

This was after Lee said on Monday that the fugitive bill has already come to an end and there is “no need” to discuss the issue again.