Hong Kong (Sort of) Elects Female Leader

The Iceman (known as the world’s most perfectly preserved mummy) is a fellow from the Copper Age who had been frozen inside a glacier in Italy until the ice melted and two hikers discovered him in 1991. But the question is…who killed him?

Hong Kong Has a New Leader: On Sunday, a committee dominated by supporters of the Chinese government chose Carrie Lam to be the next chief executive of Hong Kong. The choice of Beijing’s preferred candidate is a move likely to dismay Hong Kong residents, many of whom believe the city’s freedoms are under threat from China. Mrs. Lam, a loyal deputy to the departing chief executive, received 777 out of 1,163 votes cast, thus defeating John Tsang, a former finance secretary who polls indicated was more popular with the public.

Hong Kong is governed under the principle of “one country, two systems,” under which China agreed to give the region semi-autonomous status since its 1997 handover from Britain. But many in Hong Kong believe China is violating that agreement with increasingly open interference in its affairs. The leader of this Chinese city of 7.3 million is chosen by just 1,194 electors, most of them business and political figures with close close ties to Beijing.

In 2014, Mrs. Lam led an effort to overhaul the city’s electoral process according to Beijing’s wishes, which led to months of protests. The protests were a response to Beijing’s plan to let Hong Kong choose its chief executive this year by direct popular vote. Under that plan, China would have screened the candidates first, a restriction that made the reform a sham, according to many of the protesters. The local legislature rejected the proposal, meaning that once again a small committee chose the city’s leader. But pro-democracy advocates have stated they have no regrets, arguing that the ‘reform’ plan would have tightened Beijing’s grip on Hong Kong by giving the chief executive a false public mandate.

In the first major legislative elections after the protests, voters turned out in droves and elected two young, openly pro-independence politicians. But the Chinese government intervened in a Hong Kong court case to prevent them from taking their seats, after they pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” during their swearing-in ceremony.

Papa Putin Brings Out the Guns: Russia witnessed some of the largest anti-government protests in months, with thousands out on the streets across the country, predominantly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Riot police made many arrests, with some 850 people being detained in Moscow alone. These arrests included opposition leader in Russian Parliament and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Navalny had called for protests earlier amid attempts to weaken the government of Vladimir Putin, which made Navalny an easy target of instigation allegations. The protests erupted after the opposition in Parliament released a video outlining the extent of state corruption in Russia–material that implicates Putin’s United Russia ruling party. But as always, it looks like Putin will have the last word.  

The French Dilemma: French voters will soon head to the polls when they elect a new president in the coming months. The two favorites for the job (and currently deadlocked in the polls) are far-right superstar Marine Le Pen and liberal eye-candy Emmanuel Macron. In any other election year neither of these two candidates would likely be as successful as they are. Le Pen, running on (what else?) an anti-immigrant/anti-EU platform, owes much of her support to fear and uncertainty resulting from multiple terrorist attacks in the country and the refugee crisis that has crippled Europe since 2015. Macron’s markedly pro-EU, moderate, and pragmatic platform is aimed at alienated voters from both the left and the right. French presidents thus far have traditionally either been socialist or conservative, but the election in May is likely to change that–neither party has a strong candidate.  

Family Gathering Forces Show of Unity in EU: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the document that is the foundation of the European Union, the 27 remaining European leaders met in an unusually anti-climactic ceremony in Rome. After averting an earlier crisis in which Poland and Greece threatened to boycott the gathering, the meeting was markedly calm; the EU wanted to show – for once – its unity and willingness to compromise. Following the mantra of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, European leaders set the tone for a reformed European Union of ‘multiple speeds’ of integration for each of its members (however vague that might be). With what the EU has survived so far in its history, we wouldn’t be surprised if another 60 years of political deadlock and eurodrama await us.

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