Rising politician Starry Lee vows to rejuvenate DAB, Hong Kong’s biggest party
Lawmaker and Exco member says she will reach out to young Hongkongers - but analysts and party insiders see tough times ahead
Rising politician Starry Lee Wai-king on Friday took the reins of the city's biggest party with a pledge to nurture young talent and lead the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong to greater success in crunch elections.
The 41-year-old Legislative Council and Executive Council member was chosen by the DAB's 21-strong standing committee to replace veteran party heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung, 65. In an effort to rejuvenate the pro-establishment party, it also named lawmaker Gary Chan Hak-kan, 38, and Young DAB leader Holden Chow Ho-ting, 35, as vice-chairmen, filling posts left vacant by Lee and the outgoing Ann Chiang Lai-wan.
Meeting the press after her appointment, Lee said she was "honoured and humbled" to become the DAB's first chairwoman. She dismissed suggestions she may not be taken seriously and could even be bullied by more established members.
The appointment represents a generational shift for the party, formed in a 2005 merger between the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong and the Progressive Alliance. She becomes the youngest leader of a major party in the city.
"Now we have 132 district councillors, 13 lawmakers and more than 200 service points citywide," Lee said. "The [district council] elections in November will be our first test, and we will also [try our best] in the Legco election next year."
Tam had led the party since 2007, having taken over from the late Ma Lik.
Lee faces a series of unenviable tasks, against a backdrop of political turmoil in the city amid bitter division over the path to universal suffrage. Her first task is to harness anger over last year's Occupy protests to strengthen the DAB's grip on the 18 district councils in November.