Rival camps step up efforts in final straight before Sunday’s West Kowloon by-election
- Pro-establishment parties keen to hold onto symbolic domination of geographical constituency
- Pro-democracy side says it has learned from its mistakes in March’s defeat in the same constituency by focusing more on the streets
The two camps on either side of Hong Kong’s political divide have doubled their efforts for Sunday’s by-election compared to the last polls in March, say campaign members making their final heave to appeal to half a million voters in Kowloon West.
Political observers believe voter turnout will determine who wins this neck-and-neck battle.
After the Legislative Council election in 2016, a total of six pro-democracy lawmakers were ousted for improper oath-taking. By-elections in March this year filled four of the seats, with two of the disqualified legislators – Leung Kwok-hung and Lau Siu-lai – deciding to appeal.
In the Kowloon West constituency, Vincent Cheng Wing-shun, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, beat the previously disqualified lawmaker Edward Yiu Chung-yim and became the first pro-Beijing candidate to defeat a pro-democracy opponent in an open by-election.
