Woo Kwok-hing ‘confident’ about obtaining enough nominations to formally run in Hong Kong chief executive election
He believes most will come from pan-democratic camp, though he is unsure how many will vote for him
Chief executive contender Woo Kwok-hing said he remains “quite confident” about getting at least 150 nominations to formally enter Hong Kong’s leadership race, as he believes pan-democrats will form the majority of his nominators.
Woo, a retired High Court judge, spoke on Tuesday amid worries among pro-Beijing politicians that there might be “too many candidates” in the March election after former ministers Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, John Tsang Chun-wah and Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee announced their bids.
He also urged media executives who attended a closed-door meeting with Lam on Friday to disclose whether the former chief secretary had launched a veiled attack on her opponents. Lam was quoted as saying during the gathering that Hong Kong could face a constitutional crisis if Beijing found the winner unacceptable and refused to appoint him or her. She denied targeting anyone, saying she was just stressing a general principle.
Speaking at a luncheon at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club on Tuesday, Woo said he was “quite confident that [he] would get sufficient” nominating votes.
Referring to the pan-democratic camp which has more than a quarter of the Election Committee’s 1,194 seats, Woo said: “Apparently most of my support will be from the pan-democrats, not the pro-establishment.
