Audrey Eu (余若薇), the leader of the pro-democracy Civic Party and one of the five resigning, said that she believed that unhappiness with the territory’s economic troubles could be effectively channeled into support for democratic reforms.
“People are beginning to see it is really tied to our political system,” she said.
But the other three parties — including the Democratic Party, the largest in the pro-democracy movement — have questioned the wisdom of this and have chosen not to have any of their lawmakers resign. Albert Ho (何俊仁), the chairman of the Democratic Party, said that he did not believe that dissatisfaction with the economy would show up in by-elections.
If the resigning lawmakers win their seats again in the by-election, then the Beijing-backed executive branch of the government here will dismiss the results as meaningless, Ho warned. But if any of the lawmakers loses his or her seat, then the government will seize upon the results as evidence that public support for greater democracy is limited, he said.
“If we embark on this project, we would be in a no-win situation,” Ho said.
Tsang said in a statement on Tuesday night that the government would not recognize the results of the by-elections as a referendum.
“Many see it as an abuse of the by-election mechanism and a waste of public resources,” he said.
Beijing’s main representation in the territory, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, condemned the resignations as only likely to cause more “social conflicts.”
Economic worries here have crystallized around a plan to spend HK$67 billion, or nearly HK$10,000 per resident, to build a high-speed rail link across the border to Guangzhou. Backers of the rail line, including the government and the economic elite, see the link as essential to tying the city into China’s rapidly improving rail system and its vibrant economy, growing at 10 percent a year.
Critics of the rail line call it expensive at a time when the government is raising university tuition, looking for ways to limit assistance to all but the poorest senior citizens and still mulling how to introduce a minimum wage.
Half the legislature is elected by the public, but the other half is chosen by so-called functional constituencies — groups ranging from banks to lawyers. Only 800 people in the territory of 7 million vote for the chief executive, although most of the 800 are in turn elected by the same functional constituencies that control half the legislature.
Eu said she believed the by-elections could become an informal referendum on whether to eliminate functional constituencies and introduce the principle of one person, one vote.
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