Former senior Hong Kong government official Carrie Lam was on Sunday elected the city's next leader by a 1,200-member election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists, according to broadcaster Cable TV.

Most of Hong Kong's 7.3 million voters have no say in the choice of leader in the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, at a time when tensions with Beijing have been on the rise.

READ: Hong Kong chooses new leader amid accusations of China meddling