Hong Kong yesterday formally launched a two-week registration period for candidates to run in a key legislative election in September, amid fears authorities might try to disqualify an assertive young generation of democrats.
The territory-wide poll would be a crucial battleground for its democratic opposition to try to reclaim some political influence in the wake of tough national security legislation China imposed on June 30.
The legislation has been decried by critics, including the US, as a death knell for the territory’s freedoms and autonomy from China.
Photo: AP
However, Chinese and Hong Kong officials have said the legislation would bring stability to the territory after a restive year, and only affect a very small minority of “troublemakers.”
A vanguard of young democrats are raring to get on the ballot, having stormed to big wins in an unofficial “primary” election earlier this month.
The young firebrands, or “localists,” who often embrace a more confrontational anti-China stance, have appealed more broadly to younger, disaffected voters who no longer believe the moderate rhetoric of veteran democrats.
“For every candidate in the pro-democracy camp, we must unify at this time, to avoid attacking ourselves and to consolidate our strength to challenge the tyranny,” Sam Cheung (張可森), one young democratic hopeful, said on Facebook.
However, the risk of disqualification overshadows their prospects.
In the past four years, authorities have barred 18 democrats from running in local elections, including prominent advocate Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), according to a report by Civil Rights Observer.
Critics have said that the disqualifications — on grounds including a dissenting ideology, or support for Hong Kong independence — are meant to curb the ascendancy of the new crop of democrats.
At least six young candidates were barred from the previous legislative poll in 2016, including pro-independence leader Edward Leung (梁天琦), who has since been jailed on a rioting charge.
Given the heightened political tensions after last year’s often violent anti-government protests, mass disqualifications of candidates could stoke fresh social unrest, although replacement candidates are also poised to jump in if need be.
Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of a high degree of autonomy and broad freedoms including “the right to stand for and take part” in elections.
However, the national security legislation grants China wide-ranging new powers to clamp down on civil society and dissenting voices in the territory, and to override local laws to take jurisdiction over certain big and cases.
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