Hong Kong’s Legislative Council could face legal challenges if it bypasses House Committee election process: former president Andrew Wong
- Wong warns that legislature could end up with two parallel committee meetings convened by rival camps
- Former House Committee chairwoman Miriam Lau says incumbent can convene meetings before a new chair chosen
Hong Kong’s legislature could face legal challenges if it allows the pro-establishment bloc to bypass the election process in a key committee and proceed with other business, according to a former president.
Since October, the House Committee – which scrutinises bills and decides when they are put to a final vote – has failed to elect a chair. Opposition lawmaker Dennis Kwok, previously its deputy chairman, has presided over the meetings, as incumbent Lee seeks re-election.
Lee on Monday said the committee would hold an extra meeting four days later to clear a backlog of bills that had built up.
The new special meeting could … essentially put Legco’s internal business in courts
In an interview on Wednesday, Wong criticised Kwok for acting beyond his power to allow non-binding motions about Legco’s security arrangements. But he proposed that rather than holding a special meeting on Friday to break the impasse, Lee should withdraw herself from the running for chairwoman, propose that the committee defer the election process, and move on to other business.
Wong added that another solution, which should have been adopted in October, was for the full council to appoint a House Committee chair and deputy.
Pro-establishment heavyweight Starry Lee plans extra meeting at Legislative Council
Legco president Leung said external advice from senior counsel Benjamin Yu and Jenkin Suen suggested that, given the urgency of the situation, Lee could use her position to take control of the committee from Kwok – even though it contradicted a ruling in October that the chairmanship election should take precedence over other matters.
Yu and Suen also suggested that Lee had a “continuing duty and responsibility” to deal with “urgent or essential business”.
But Wong supported the original ruling in October, and disagreed with the two lawyers’ opinion.
He warned that by convening a special meeting on Friday, Legco could end up with two parallel meetings convened by rival camps.
“I share the same view as the original legal opinion, the first item should still be the election. The new special meeting could create [the] trouble of having parallel meetings and essentially put Legco’s internal business in courts,” said Wong, who wrote the modern standing orders of Legco before the city’s handover to China in 1997.
The incumbent House Committee chairman should have the absolute power to decide when to have meetings and which may come first on the agenda
But Miriam Lau Kin-yee, who chaired the House Committee from 2003 to 2012, disagreed with Wong, saying Yu and Suen were right to suggest Lee had the power to convene the meetings even before a new chair was elected.
“The incumbent House Committee chairman should have the absolute power to decide when to have meetings and which may come first on the agenda,” Lau said.
“And the election of the [next] chairman does not have to be the first item. There is no special clause in the rule book to preclude that.”
Both Lau and Wong disagreed with the argument of the two senior counsel that it was purely “administrative” for the government to consult the House Committee on when certain bills could resume their second reading and be put for a final vote at the full council.
Lau said: “The work of the House Committee is not purely administrative, because its function is bound by the rules of procedure and other conventions.”
Wong also said: “It is for the Bills Committee to report to the House Committee, while the latter could have a different view of the handling. It has to pass through that step.”
Starry Lee refrained from commenting.
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