Rarely can an election with so few voters have provided so much fun to so many people. A committee of just 1,200 of Hong Kong’s great and (not so) good get to decide who will be the territory’s next chief executive, its de facto mayor. But that has not stopped the people of Hong Kong, who are pushing for universal suffrage by 2017, from treating the election like the real thing.
The freest city in China, with its rambunctious press and independent judiciary, has much of the paraphernalia of a normal campaign, the restricted franchise notwithstanding. The 1,200-strong election committee, mostly pro-Beijing, is expected to reflect China’s wishes, if only it can work out what they are. Unlike in previous elections for chief executive, there has been no definitive signal from the mainland. Beijing has even let it be known that the winner should be popular with the public – of all things. As a result, the leading candidates are behaving much as they might if people actually had the vote. As well as campaign speeches – mostly devoid of content, just as in a real election – there are opinion polls and wall-to-wall media coverage. Best of all, there are scandals.
Easily the most entertaining involves Henry Tang, son of a textile tycoon and presumed by many to be Beijing’s preferred candidate. Mr Tang gets on well with the tycoons who still run Hong Kong and whom Beijing has entrusted to keep things ticking over since the territory reverted from British rule in 1997. But Mr Tang has spilt claret all over the election script. A well-known wine connoisseur, who as finance secretary saved himself a bob or two by scrapping duty on his favourite tipple, Mr Tang stands accused of having built an illegal wine cellar.