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John Lee Ka-chiu has been elected as Hong Kong's new leader on May 8, taking over the top job from Carrie Lam.

Lee, 64, was the only candidate for Hong Kong's sixth chief executive election.

He pledged to alleviate the city's housing problem and to improve Hong Kong's competitiveness as a business hub.

In the closed voting process, Lee secured 1,416 out of the 1,424 cast. Eight voted "not support".

After winning the election on May 8 morning, Lee thanked his supporters and gave flowers to his wife.

"Today is the chief executive election day, which is important to me. But it’s also Mother’s Day, Buddha’s Birthday, and the Red Cross’s World Smile Day,” he said.

The votes were cast by the Election Committee, most of them pro-Beijing loyalists.

Hong Kong Free Press reported that the committee was vetted by Lee himself in 2021 when he was the chief secretary.

Previously the city's security chief who had spent 35 years in the police force before joining the government in 2012, Lee was reported to be the one that the China leaders can trust to run the city.

However, Lee does not appear to win the hearts of most Hong Kong people. According to a recent popularity survey conducted by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Institute, Lee gained 34.8 points out of 100.

He is known to be the hard liner who led the crackdown on 2019 Hong Kong protests.

He also backed the national security law in 2020 which led to the arrest of over 100 dissidents, BBC reported.

Lee is the first former police officer who rose through the ranks and became the leader of Hong Kong.

Top image via John Lee's Facebook