Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying will run for a second term in office unless the central government forbids him from doing so, the deputy director of Leung’s previous electoral campaign Kaizer Lau Ping-cheung has said.

The Chief Executive elections will take place next year. So far, New People’s Party Chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Shuk-yee and Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah have been tipped to run. At a pro-CY Hong Kong United Foundation media gathering on Tuesday, Lau said that Leung had not yet put together a team and he did not know whether he would be invited to work on his campaign again, Ming Pao reported.

CY’s ‘love for the country’

Lau said that, although John Tsang was familiar with government operations, he was not a visionary. “Overall, Leung still scored higher,” Lau said, after listing Leung’s past experiences of serving as non-executive directors at companies and praising Leung’s “love for the country”.

He said that Leung was determined to serve Hong Kong and he believed he would most definitely run for a second term in office “unless the central government stops him from doing so.”

Lau also said that Beijing officials did not reveal their stance at the two-sessions meeting in Beijing earlier this month. When Leung met with Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs director Wang Guangya in Beijing then, Leung said that they did not discuss the chief executive elections or the performance of the government.

However, Lau said it was likely that the results of the Legislative Council elections in September would be essential. “If the pro-establishment camp loses big, someone will have to take responsibility, and all matters relating to Hong Kong fall on CY’s shoulders.”

Lau said that Leung’s administration had done a lot with land and housing policies, and that Leung would have done more were it not for filibustering in the Legislative Council. Leung’s biggest challenges now are his low popularity and whether he would be attacked for not fulfilling all of the promises he made when he ran for office the first time. Lau also said that the young people’s grievances were not “genuine” and that they had “overly high expectations”.

Chinese University of Hong Kong senior lecturer Ivan Choy Chi-keung said Lau’s comments meant that Leung had already begun planning his campaign. However, Choy also said that it was unwise of Lau to reveal that Leung has not yet had the central government’s blessing, and that it could be disadvantageous to Leung.