HK Chief Exec Carrie Lam Won't Seek Another Term

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who has faced a tumultuous five-year term defined by political upheaval and COVID-19, will not seek to extend her time in office, she confirmed Monday, Jessie Yeung reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam

The decision was her "personal wish and aspiration" and was entirely driven by "family considerations," said Lam in a news conference, a day after the nomination period for the post opened. She added that she had informed Beijing of her decision in March last year during China's annual parliamentary meeting. Her term ends on June 30.

Speculation has swirled on whether Lam, who has the lowest public approval rating seen since Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, would run again in the May 8 leadership race.

Lam took office in 2017, promising to "repair" a divided society. But two years later, she became the focus of widespread anger and discontent, as millions took to the streets to protest a controversial extradition bill.

Those protests soon came to represent larger fears among the public of growing Chinese influence and control over the semi-autonomous city.

And though Lam ultimately withdrew the bill months into the protests, by then it was too late to stem public fury, fueled by allegations of excessive force by police and demands for greater democracy.

The emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020, followed by the introduction of a national security law months later, brought an end to the protest movement.

The law, promulgated by Beijing, has transformed the city's social and political landscape. Under the law, democracy activists and politicians have been arrested and many of Hong Kong's largest unions, advocacy groups, and media outlets have been dismantled.

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