Hong Kong Democratic Party chief says no turning back on group’s dissolution

In talk show hosted by former party chairwoman Emily Lau, Lo Kin-hei also says he won’t stand in future elections or emigrate

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Chairman of the Democratic Party Lo Kin-hei, at the organisation’s office in Prince Edward, where he is interviewed by former party chairwoman Emily Lau on Tuesday. Photo: May Tse

Published: 7:45pm, 22 Apr 2025Updated: 9:19pm, 22 Apr 2025

The leader of Hong Kong’s opposition Democratic Party has said there is no turning back on the group’s proposed dissolution, adding that he has no plans to stand in future elections as an independent candidate or to emigrate.

Chairman Lo Kin-hei on Tuesday also said on a talk show hosted by former party chairwoman and ex-legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing that the organisation had been forced to dissolve, driven by factors that “upset the balance” of considerations for it to continue its work.

“Originally, if circumstances had remained unchanged, the balance of factors of whether we would continue or not was quite stable. We thought we could keep hanging on. But we eventually found out that the situation had changed, disrupting the balance,” Lo said, without elaborating on what the changes were.

“So we either choose not to make any decisions or we follow through with our decision [to disband]. On the question of whether there is any room for us to reconsider disbanding, I don’t think so.”

The party, once a powerful opposition force in the city’s political landscape, held an extraordinary meeting earlier this month, during which nearly all the members present voted in favour of the leadership dissolving the group.

As early as February, the party had initiated procedures to disband after its central committee convened a special meeting and made a “collective decision” to throw in the towel, after making a grim assessment about what it could realistically achieve in the wake of the 2019 social unrest and a changed political environment in which many opposition voices and parties had been subdued.

Lo said on Tuesday that once the central committee had made its decision, the group would not try to stall the process and in fact aimed to expedite the party’s dissolution.