| Abstract | Shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa, long touted as the favourite to win the chief executive post, performed up to expectations - and then some - in sweeping 206 of the 400 Selection Committee votes. It seemed to reveal about the state of play in Hong Kong's fast-changing new political culture. Most obviously, it confirmed the power of the Selection Committee's business component, which is said to comprise more than 80 per cent of its membership. It was widely assumed that business interests represented on the committee would end up more or less evenly matched by a loose coalition of legal, professional, labour and other grass-roots factions who would group around Yang Ti-liang or Li Fook-sean as their most viable alternative to Tung. |
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