‘Tree Gun’ Christopher Chung threatens to quit DAB if he can’t run for Legco in September
Party may stop legislator from running after number of seats available cut
Beijing-friendly legislator Christopher Chung Shu-kun says he might quit the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong if it bans him from seeking re-election in September.
Chung’s remarks came a day ahead of the meeting of the party’s central committee, which is set to rule Chung out from its list of candidates.
It was understood DAB was inclined to field only one list of candidates in Hong Kong Island after the number of seats in the constituency fell from seven to six this year. The party’s vice-chairman Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, a western and central district councillor, is tipped to run, with outgoing Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing no longer in contention.
“According to the mechanism of DAB, if one who is not endorsed by the party insists on contesting, he or she would have to quit the party,” Chung told nowTV on Tuesday. “Under such a development, I believe I have no choice but to consider running the race independently.”
Chung entered the legislature for the first time in 2012 after getting 33,901 votes. His colleague Tsang got 36,517 votes.
The pro-establishment camp holds four of seven Hong Kong Island seats. With the reduction to six seats, the bloc hopes to limit its candidates to avoid splitting the vote and handing a lead to the pan-democrats.