Carrie Lam announced that she will not seek re-election as chief executive after Hong Kong

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Monday that she will not seek a second term after five difficult years marked by huge protests calling for her resignation, a security campaign that has stifled dissent and, more recently, a wave of COVID-19 that overflowed the health system.

His successor will be elected in May and the city's head of security during the 2019 protests is among the possible options.

“I will end my five-year term as executive director on June 30 of this year, and I will also end my 42 years of public service,” Lam said at a press conference. She thanks her team of local officials and central authorities in Beijing, and said she plans to spend more time with the family, which is her “only consideration.”

There was speculation for months about whether he would seek another mandate, but he said his decision was passed on to the central government in Beijing last year and was met with “respect and understanding.”

“Less than two years after my tenure as executive director, due to the bill against extradition and interference by foreign forces and also the attack of COVID-19, I was under great pressure,” said Lam. “However, the motivation for moving forward was the unconditional support of the central authorities.”

She presided over a period in which Beijing firmly established control over the former British colony that was returned to China in 1997. For years, the city swayed back and forth between calls for greater freedom and growing signs that China was extending its reach to the city, even after Hong Kong was promised 50 years of freedom to rule itself semi-autonomously from the mainland.

Lam's popularity declined dramatically during his five-year term, particularly because of legislation that would have allowed those suspected of crimes to be extradited to mainland China for trial and then because of his leadership during the 2019 protests. Mass demonstrations were sometimes marked by violent clashes between police and demonstrators. Authorities insisted that foreign interference was fueling the movement, rather than organic local activism, while protesters denounced excessive police actions and said violence and seditious claims were attempts to undermine the cause of democracy.

He also strongly supported the national security law initiated by Beijing and implemented by his government that was seen to erode the “one country, two systems” framework that he promised after the handover of Britain that the city's residents would retain freedoms not found in mainland China, such as freedom of press and freedom of expression.

The security law and other police and judicial actions in the years since have virtually erased the city's pro-democracy movement, with activists and supporters of the movement arrested or imprisoned. Others have fled into exile.

Hong Kong media says the city's No. 2 leader John Lee is likely to enter the race to succeed Lam. Chief Secretary Lee was the city's chief of security during the 2019 protests and is known for his support of the police force during the protests and his tough stance against protesters.

The leader of Hong Kong is elected by a committee composed of legislators, representatives of various industries and professions and pro-Beijing representatives, such as Hong Kong deputies to the Chinese legislature. One of the unmet demands of the 2019 protests was the direct election of the city's chief executive.

The election of the executive director had been set for March 27, but was postponed until May 8, as the city suffers from the worst coronavirus outbreak of the pandemic.

Lam said that holding the elections as originally scheduled would pose “public health risks,” even if a committee of only 1,462 people participated.

Hong Kong has reported nearly 1.2 million cases, 99% during the fifth wave driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant. It has put the health system to the test, and hospitals sometimes place patients in outdoor beds. Nearly 8,000 people have died in the latest outbreak, and funeral homes operating at full capacity have used refrigerated containers to temporarily store bodies.

The Lam government has been widely criticized for changing policies, including mixed messages in February and March about whether a lockdown and mandatory mass testing would be implemented. Uncertainty caused panic among residents, who cleared store shelves to accumulate daily necessities.

Plans for mandatory mass testing were abandoned, and Lam last week urged all residents to be tested with rapid antigen kits between April 8 and 10. He later said that the exercise was voluntary as it was not possible to enforce it.

Lam, 64, previously served as chief secretary and development secretary and other civil service positions. She earned the nickname “good fighter” because of her tough stance and refusal to retreat from political battles.

Lam renounced her British nationality in 2007 when she was appointed secretary of development. Her husband and two children have retained their British nationality.

(with information from AP)

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