With support from 180 electors, Woo Kwok-hing has become the second candidate to hand in the requisite number of nominations to officially run in Hong Kong’s chief executive election.
The submission of his candidacy follows that of former financial secretary John Tsang, who handed in 160 nominations on Saturday.
The 71-year-old former High Court judge handed in his nominations at 4:30pm on Monday, at the Electoral Affairs Commission in Wanchai.
For a candidate to officially run as chief executive, 150 nominations from the 1,200-member small-circle Election Committee are required. Woo received 47 new nominations on Saturday, which took his total to 156.
Speaking after he handed in his application, Woo said that he received a total of 180 nominations. He told reporters that he was “200 per cent determined” to stop rival contender Carrie Lam from being elected, criticising her as more authoritarian and less sensitive to public opinion than incumbent leader Leung Chun-ying.
Lam, seemingly Beijing’s favoured candidate, has still not handed in her reported hundreds of nominations. She is expected to do so on Tuesday.
All of Woo’s nominations came from pro-democracy electors, including those in the medical, health services and social welfare sectors. He told reporters over the weekend that he initially had the support of one pro-establishment elector, but that elector decided not to nominate him in the end.
Article 22
Woo has proposed legislating Article 22 of Basic Law to criminalise political interference in Hong Kong from the mainland, before legislating the controversial Article 23 national security law.
He has also proposed reforms allowing the entirety of the Hong Kong electorate – some 3 million people – the right to select the members of the Election Committee, which can in turn nominate chief executive candidates. He then advocates universal suffrage in voting for the chief executive.
The nomination period for the small-circle chief executive election ends on March 1. The other main candidates aside from Woo are John Tsang, Carrie Lam, and lawmaker Regina Ip. The 1,200 Election Committee members will vote on March 26.
