Ex-security chief John Lee elected Hong Kong’s next leader

BEIJING

John Lee, an official who oversaw a crackdown on Hong Kong protests, was elected the city's next chief executive on Sunday.

Lee, 64, won 1,416 votes from the 1,500-member Election Committee in a secret ballot, becoming the first security official to win the office. Eight voted against him.

The former secretary for security was the only candidate in the polls and he will take the office on July 1.

Lee was blacklisted by the US for his role in implementing a national security law that has crushed the city's democracy movement in 2019-2020.