Incumbent Donald Tsang Yam-kuen won more than 80 percent of the ballots in the election of the third-term chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Sunday, according to Returning Officer Justice Barnabas Fung Wah.

 

 

At about 11:50 AM, Fung announced that of the 772 valid votes cast by members of the Election Committee, Tsang and Alan Leong, Tsang's only contender, won 649 and 123, respectively.

 

He declared that Tsang had won victory in the election of HKSAR chief executive.

 

The announcement met with warm applause from those present at the polling center. With tears in his eyes, Tsang bowed to the audience, received a bouquet of flowers from his supporters and embraced his wife.

 

At a press conference soon after the announcement, Tsang said that the next-term HKSAR government under his leadership will be a broadly representative one that will balance the interests of various sectors of society, pledging to narrow the gap between rich and poor.

 

"We shall do our utmost to push economic development and establish Hong Kong as No. 1 international financial center in the region," he said.

 

He said that the election is a major step in Hong Kong's constitutional development within the framework of the Basic Law, and a success of the "one country, two systems" principle, vowing to take concrete efforts to work towards the goal of constitutional development.

 

Voting of the election began at 9 AM Sunday at Hall Two of the AsiaWorld-Expo on Lantou Island in Hong Kong, with 789 members of the 795-member Election Committee casting their secret ballots.

 

The whole process was under the supervision of the Electoral Affairs Commission, scrutineers of the election candidates, the public and the mass media.

 

"The result of the election meets people's expectations, indicating Tsang's good governance of Hong Kong over the past 18 months had been endorsed by most of the Election Committee members, " said Tsang Hin-chi, a member of the Election Committee and also a member of the Standing Committee of the National People' s Congress, China's parliament.

 

"The election result reflects the mainstream will of the people, that is, Hong Kong must develop forward in a stable manner," said Ma Lik, also a member of the Election Committee and chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong.

 

"The election prevailed with a warm atmosphere, and Tsang's overwhelming victory will help him in his governance in the next five years," said Ivan Choy, senior instructor of the Government and Political Administration Department under the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2007)