China-backed Lam elected Hong Kong’s first female leader

China’s heavily preferred candidate Carrie Lam has won the heavily restricted election for a new leader of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s chief executive is not chosen by public vote but by a 1,200 person committee dominated by pro-Beijing electors. Lam, the former deputy to outgoing chief executive Leung Chun-ying, beat the former financial secretary John Tsang and former judge Woo Kwok-hing.

She won 777 votes to become the city’s first female leader, more than double the votes obtained by runner-up Tsang.

In her acceptance speech, Lam pledged to heal divisions in Hong Kong amid demands for more democracy and protests at Beijing’s growing influence.

"Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness and has accumulated a lot of frustrations. My priority will be to heal the divide,” she said.

She added that she welcomed and encouraged a spectrum of voices and vowed to "tap the forces of our young people".

"They are often at the forefront of society, pulling and pushing us as a whole to make progress."

Lam also promised to uphold Hong Kong's "core values" such as "inclusiveness, freedoms of the press and of speech, respect for human rights" and the rule of law.

In a sign of continuing divisions, pro-democracy groups held protests outside the election venue, calling the process a sham.

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who was among those protesting and was a lead figure in the 2014 ‘umbrellas protests’, has called the electoral process "a selection rather than an election".

On Facebook, an online protest was launched called No Election in Hong Kong Now, which showed a video montage of regular citizens going about their business as the election took place to highlight how they were not entitled to vote.

Hong Kong is governed under the principle of "one country, two systems", under which China has agreed to give the region semi-autonomous status since its 1997 handover from the UK.

The Election Committee includes 70 members of the territory's legislature, the Legislative Council - half of whom are directly elected. However, most of the committee members are chosen by business, professional or special interest groups.

Critics warn that entities that lean towards Beijing are given disproportionately large representation. Pro-democracy activists last year secured 325 seats on the committee – the highest number ever, but not enough seats to determine the next chief executive.