The administration of Leung Chun-ying as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, officially referred to as "The 4th term Chief Executive of Hong Kong" relates to the period of governance of Hong Kong since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2017.
Election
During the Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2012, CY Leung secured a majority of the 1,132 votes cast by Election Committee members. Leung received 689 votes in all. His opponents Henry Tang and Albert Ho received 285 and 76 votes respectively. Thus, Leung was declared duly elected by the Returning Officer. After the election result was endorsed by the Central Government of the PRC, Leung took office on 1 July 2012, for a term of five years.
Mandate
Upon their elections, Tung Chee-hwa and Donald Tsang enjoyed popularity ratings of 80 percent and 70 percent respectively. Commentators have widely suggested that by comparison, Leung's very low approval rating of 17.8 percent by participants in the mock election and a less than overwhelming 57 percent support from the Election Committee members means he lacks the mandate from the people. The Standard cited one source who suggested the fact that the active involvement of the central government liaison office in the election may deter some people from joining Leung's team. Furthermore, pundits have commented Leung's lack of support within the business community may mean Leung may have difficulty recruiting suitable and capable talent for his cabinet.
Legacy issues
In addition to general livelihood issues, specific issues inherited by Leung from the previous administration include:
Pregnant mainland women seeking to give birth in Hong Kong, specifically to benefit from the right of abode. Seeking to assert his authority, Leung's first public announcement on the policy as Chief Executive-elect was to impose a 'zero' quota on mainland mothers giving birth in Hong Kong. Leung further underlined that those who did may not be able to secure the right of abode for their offspring in Hong Kong. Illegal structures, particularly on village houses and latent confrontation with the Heung Yee Kuk. The future of solid waste disposal, specifically the proposal to construct a waste incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau, after Edward Yau, Environment secretary for the 2nd Tsang administration, failed to secure the support of Panel members to file its funding request to the relevant LegCo committee in April 2012. As part of Hong Kong's democratic development, the Leung administration is tasked with paving the way for election, in 2017, of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage. The Tsang administration resurrected plans for a "national education" that had been originally shelved until 2015. It announced in April 2012 that Moral and National Education would be introduced as a curriculum subject in both primary and secondary schools in September of the same year, becoming compulsory in primary schools in September 2015 and in secondary schools in 2016.
Transitional team
Fanny Law, who was Leung's campaign manager, was appointed as head of the office of the CE-elect. Leung earlier appointed Cathy Hung as his PR officer and Allen Fung as project officer.
Leung's fourth appointment to his transitional office, of 27-year-old Chen Ran (陳冉) as his project officer, stirred criticism. Chen is a former General Secretary of the pro-CPC Hong Kong Y.Elites Association (香港菁英會), of which Leung is the patron. She is also the daughter of a middle-ranking government official in Shanghai, and a former member of the Communist Youth League who has resided in Hong Kong for over 6 years. Her application to permanent residency of Hong Kong has been reportedly fast-tracked. Lee Cheuk-yan criticised Leung of "seeding a Communist princeling" in the civil service. The CE-elect's office said that Chen had not been actively involved in the Youth League since 2005; the DAB said it was appropriate for Leung to recruit people who shared his vision. An op-ed in The Standard said that "almost every bright student is invited to join the CYL," but that "Leung should have been aware of the sensitivity involved". The appointment makes the CE-elect's office the third government department to recruit a non-permanent resident since the system of non-civil service contracts was put in place in 1999.