Row over election ban on localist escalates as Hong Kong justice minister’s explanation backfires
Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung argues Edward Leung Tin-kei did not touch on independence when he ran in February by-election
The row over the barring of a localist leader from next month’s Legislative Council elections intensified yesterday as the Hong Kong justice minister’s explanation backfired and 30 members of the committee that picks the city’s leader jointly questioned the power of electoral officials to make such decisions.
Justice minister Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung waded in to explain that Edward Leung Tin-kei was disqualified from the September 4 elections over his pro-independence views but not last February’s by-election because he did not make “an explicit independence claim” back then.
He was promptly accused of double standards and not doing his homework as Leung countered that he had openly advocated Hong Kong’s independence from China, a fact confirmed by the Post and other media outlets.
The justice chief tried to defend the Electoral Affairs Commission’s decision to disqualify Leung a day after returning officer Cora Ho Lai-sheung invalidated the Hong Kong Indigenous member’s candidacy on the grounds that he had no intention of upholding the Basic Law.
“The returning officer has already explained the argument clearly in her reply, which I think has a legal basis,” Yuen said.
