HONG KONG: Five pro-democracy lawmakers quit Hong Kong’s legislature on Tuesday to trigger by-elections they say will serve as a referendum on universal suffrage, despite a warning from Beijing that the plan was unlawful.
The legislators — Alan Leong and Tanya Chan of the Civic Party and activist “long hair” Leung Kwok-hung, Albert Chan and former radio talkshow host Raymond Wong from the League of Social Democrats — say their resignation will turn the by-elections in five districts into a “de facto referendum” on democracy.
Opinion polls have shown waning public support for the plan, and even pro-democracy groups are split over the strategy. The influential Democratic Party decided not to participate.
Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing and pro-establishment forces including the Liberal Party have said they will boycott the by-elections, making it harder for the parties contesting the polls to portray them as a legitimate referendum.
China has promised to allow a direct vote for the city’s leader in 2017, but many democrats remain skeptical Beijing will allow this without first tweaking electoral rules to make it difficult for opposition figures to win power.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader Donald Tsang said he “deeply regrets” the resignations, while calling them an abuse of the by-election mechanism and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The cost of the by-elections has been estimated by the government to be around HK$150 million ($19.2 million).
The bowtie-wearing Tsang added, however, that while his administration refused to recognise the referendum, it would abide by existing laws and allow the by-elections to be held.
