Former Occupy student leaders Joshua Wong, Nathan Law in bid for Hong Kong opposition camp’s endorsement to run in Legislative Council elections
- City’s constitutional affairs minister also drops biggest hint yet that candidates who oppose national security law could be banned from Legco race
- Wong claims he could face punishment beyond just being barred from elections, if new legislation kicks in
Former Occupy student leaders Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Nathan Law Kwun-chung have thrown their hats into the ring for the opposition camp’s primaries in the lead-up to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council elections, despite facing disqualification under the impending national security law.
Announcing his bid to seek the camp’s endorsement for a Kowloon East seat on Friday, Wong warned he could be slapped with harsher penalties over his political stance, should the legislation being tailor-made by Beijing come into effect.
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“With the threat from Beijing, the national security law is not only a matter of whether I will be disqualified. It is about the risk that I may be extradited to [mainland] China to face unfair trial and locked up in prison,” Wong, 23, said, adding that he hoped the results of the primaries would quantify public opposition to the new law.
Wong, a poster boy for Hong Kong’s movement for greater democracy, is competing with dozens of other hopefuls for the bloc’s endorsement in the September polls.
The national security law is aimed at preventing, stopping and punishing secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Opposition politicians and legal scholars have warned it could be used to suppress dissent and erode freedoms in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, the city’s minister overseeing the elections, said he doubted if those who were against the national security law were fit to run for office, dropping the biggest hint yet that candidates who oppose the legislation could be barred from the Legco race.
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Sources in the camp said Jannelle Rosalynne Leung, an independent serving as a Kwun Tong district councillor, would be Wong’s backup candidate.
Last year, Wong, who is secretary general of party Demosisto, was the only candidate disqualified over his political stance from running in the citywide district council elections.
A returning officer found Wong’s advocacy for the city’s self-determination incompatible with candidates’ pledge of allegiance to the special administrative region, as well as to uphold the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.
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Law, 26, a former Demosisto lawmaker who was ousted for irregularities in his oath of office in 2017, announced he would enter the Hong Kong Island primary on Friday.
“Speak up for yourselves,” Law said. “Go against the draconian national security law and support people who embrace liberal values.”
He said he had been trying to counter Beijing’s narrative about last year’s protests by “telling Hong Kong’s story” while studying in the United States.
The city’s pro-democracy camp is set to hold polls on July 11 and 12 to select candidates to run for all five geographic constituencies in the legislature, as well as for five “super seats” and one in the functional constituency.
Super seats refer to the District Councils (Second) functional constituency in which all electors without a vote in any other trade-based constituency may cast their ballots in a citywide election.
New blood from the opposition camp and independents will face competition from veterans in the primaries, including members of the Democratic Party and Civic Party.
Nearly 30 opposition figures, including about a dozen lawmakers, have signalled their intention to run in the primary.
Results of the primaries will be announced on July 13 – five days before the nomination period for the Legco elections begins.
The camp hopes to gain more than 35 seats in the polls for a majority in Legco, which will give them the power to veto the government’s budget, policy address and other hotly contested bills.
More than 4.4 million people are eligible to vote in September.
For the first time, the Home Affairs Bureau has arranged for the candidate applications for each geographical constituency to be vetted by district officers from another area. For instance, the district officer for Wong Tai Sin, which is part of Kowloon East, will review applications for the Hong Kong Island constituency. The Central and Western district officer will vet candidates for Kowloon West seats.
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The change came after a district officer responsible for ruling on the validity of Wong’s application last year took sick leave before making a decision. She was replaced by an officer from another district.
Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan questioned why the government would break from tradition and asked for an explanation. “Are they afraid of embarrassment after disqualifying [candidates] and that they may be councillors from the particular district?” Chan said.
But pro-government lawmaker Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan said the arrangement could avoid conflict arising between civil servants and politicians because after the elections the officers would return to handling local affairs and be required to liaise with that district’s lawmakers.
