Hong Kong’s incoming leader John Lee Ka-chiu has applied to the court for legal exemptions for failing to comply with election rules when he ran for the top job earlier this year.

Lee, 64, ran three advertisements on his Facebook campaign page between April 13 and 18 in which three public figures, including an Olympic medallist and a Canto-pop singer, endorsed the sole candidate of the first chief executive poll since a Beijing-led electoral overhaul.

But the former police officer turned top bureaucrat failed to publicise electronic copies of the trio’s written consent of support within one working day after the ads’ publication in accordance with authorities’ guidelines, making him liable for an offence under the Electoral Procedure (Chief Executive Election) Regulation.