Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam announced she would not seek a second term in office after a controversial tenure that has seen many of the territory’s civil freedoms eroded.
As chief executive, Ms Lam oversaw a turbulent period where massive pro-democracy protests led to greater Chinese control in Hong Kong.
Ms Lam, 64, was Beijing’s handpicked choice entering office in 2017.
On Monday, she told reporters Beijing had been receptive to her decision.
She also revealed she had informed China about her desire to not seek a second term a year ago, despite refusing in recent times to answer questions about her political future.
Ms Lam said she was stepping back and prioritising her family.
“There’s only one consideration and that is family… They think it’s time for me to go home,” she said.
Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary John Lee is tipped to be the favoured replacement for Ms Lam.
The city’s leaders are selected by a small committee of 1,500 members who are nearly all pro-Beijing loyalists. They’re due to select the new chief executive next month.
Local media outlets reported that Mr Lee, the second-highest ranking official, was due to present his candidacy for the leadership position this week.
Mr Lee, a former police officer, was also a leading security official during the 2019 protests. He was elevated to the leadership ranks last year, in a sign, analysts said, of Beijing’s intention to focus on security in Hong Kong.
What is Carrie Lam’s legacy?
A bureaucrat with decades of experience, Ms Lam was Hong Kong’s first female leader who soon became one of the city’s most divisive leaders.
She sparked months of protests in 2019 after proposing a law to allow extraditions to mainland China.
The mass protests led to China imposing a series of policies to “restore security” and tighten control over Hong Kong and its residents.
The most prominent of these was a major national security law that criminalised most forms of political protest and dissent, and reduced the city’s autonomy.
The US imposed sanctions on Ms Lam, and 10 other Hong Kong officials, after the law came into effect.
Ms Lam had promoted the widely-criticised law saying it was not all “doom and gloom”.
“Compared with the national security laws of other countries, it is a rather mild law,” she has said. “Its scope is not as broad as that in other countries and even China.”
However since its passage in 2020, Hong Kong has seen a succession of democracy activists, former lawmakers and media figures arrested and jailed. Many others have fled abroad.
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Large independent media outlets have also been forced to close, and the national security law also risks affecting foreign nationals outside of Hong Kong and China.
Other changes made by China under Ms Lam’s tenure included reforming the membership make-up of the city’s election committee – to give more voting power to pro-Beijing figures, analysts said.
Ms Lam was also at the forefront of her city’s response to the pandemic.
She ensured Hong Kong mirrored the mainland in its pandemic response – shutting borders and enforcing weeks-long quarantine for travellers in a bid to eliminate the virus rather than live with it.
But an Omicron wave broke through last month, overwhelming the city’s healthcare system and causing hundreds of deaths a day in the city of seven million. Hong Kong has now lifted some restrictions as it comes off the wave’s peak.
