HONG KONG �� Hong Kong's former No. 2 official, Carrie Lam, was elected the city's chief executive, giving China its preferred choice to lead the fractious financial hub.
Lam won 67 percent of votes cast Sunday by an electoral college of 1,194 businessmen, professionals and politicians that selects leaders for the former British colony, according to final results. Her chief rival, former Financial Secretary John Tsang won 31 percent, despite being more popular among the general public and support from the committee's pro-democracy bloc. A third candidate, retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, received 1.8 percent.
The result will make Lam, a career civil servant, the city's first female leader when her five-year term begins on July 1. She became the favorite to win after her unpopular former boss, outgoing Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, withdrew in December and Chinese officials pushed behind the scenes to rally support for a candidate considered compliant to Beijing's agenda.
Lam's primary tasks will be healing divisions over Beijing's perceived encroachment on Hong Kong's affairs, and bolstering an economy vulnerable to China's slowdown and U.S. interest-rate increases. Lam's pledge to spur growth by spending more and cutting taxes will be helped by a projected budget surplus of $11.9 billion for the current fiscal year.
Lam's popularity fell during weeks of media reports about Chinese officials working to quash opposition to her on the loyalist-dominated election committee.
"She is viewed ��and she said so herself �� as C.Y. Leung's successor to continue his administration and policies," said Jason Y. Ng, a lawyer who wrote "Umbrellas in Bloom," a chronicle of the democracy protests in 2014. "She is too much of a known entity. There will be no honeymoon period at all."
China promised to give Hong Kong a "high degree of autonomy" before Britain relinquished control two decades ago. Lam's inauguration ceremony will take place on the 20th anniversary of the handover, giving her an immediate test for handling a politically sensitive occasion.
Chinese President Xi Jinping may attend the event, which is accompanied by an annual pro-democracy march, in what would be his first visit to Hong Kong since taking power in 2012.
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(Crystal Tse and Annie Lee contributed to this report.)
