Pro-establishment Hong Kong politician’s Legislative Council ousting upheld in Court of Final Appeal
- Chan Hoi-yan is denied permission to challenge her disqualification, which arose from procedural issues around the barring of her election opponent
- Court of Final Appeal upholds decision that Chan was not duly elected to city’s legislature
Mr Justice Roberto Ribeiro, one of three judges who presided over Friday’s hearing, echoed the lower court’s view that the by-election was made unfair by the returning officer’s failure to give Lau a reasonable chance to respond to allegations that she did not fulfil the constitutional requirements to contest the polls.
“You excluded somebody from standing [an election] without asking them or giving them a chance to raise an objection. That exclusion of somebody, who had a constitutional right to stand [for election], in itself is a material irregularity,” the judge said.
Lau, one of the six lawmakers disqualified in the 2016 swearing-in saga, was barred from contesting the by-election in the Kowloon West constituency, where she initially won her seat, after her nomination was thrown out.
Returning officer Franco Kwok Wai-fun ruled that Lau had not genuinely stopped advocating for self-determination for Hong Kong – which some officials have conflated with an unconstitutional pro-independence stance – despite her claim that she had ditched that position ahead of the polls.
The High Court lifted Lau’s election ban in May after finding the election official did not give her a proper opportunity to respond to the allegations against her.
