Carrie Lam has been elected as Hong Kong’s new leader, becoming the first woman to hold the top job. Her victory was predicted as she had Beijing’s support.

Hong Kong’s chief executive is chosen by a committee heavily made up of pro-Beijing electors, rather than by holding a public vote.

Pro-democracy groups held protests outside the election venue as the vote was held on Sunday, calling the process a sham.

Mrs Lam’s main rival, former finance chief John Tsang, was the public’s favourite, according to opinion polls.

The third candidate was retired judge Woo Kwok-hing.

Carrie Lam faces uphill battle

Calls for fully free elections in the semi-autonomous region have failed, despite intense demonstrations, known as the “umbrella protests”, in 2014.

Hong Kong’s 1,200-seat Election Committee picked Mrs Lam to succeed current leader CY Leung, who will step down in July. She was formerly his deputy.

Mrs Lam, a longtime civil servant, is nicknamed the nanny because of her background running numerous government projects.

During the 2014 protests, she took the unpopular stance of defending Beijing’s concessions for political reform – allowing Hong Kong people to choose their leader but only from pre-approved candidates.

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who was among those protesting and was a lead figure in the umbrella movement, has called the current 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 participate.

Candidates Woo Kwok-hing, Carrie Lam and John Tsang pose as they greet election committee members on Sunday

Mr Leung has proved unpopular will large swathes of Hong Kong residents who consider him too tightly aligned to Beijing.

At the end of the 2016, he made the unexpected announcement that he would not run again, citing family reasons.

Outgoing leader CY Leung was elected in 2012 and, unusually, only served one term

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 Britain.

Hong Kong’s Election Committee includes 70 members of the Legislative Council – half of whom are directly elected.

However, most of the committee is elected by business, professional or special interest groups.

Critics say entities that lean towards Beijing are given disproportionately large representation.

Last year, pro-democracy activists secured 325 seats on the committee – the highest number ever. However, this does not give them enough seats to determine who becomes the next chief executive.

Mrs. Lam (middle) with other contestants