Prominent democracy advocate Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) yesterday applied to run for a seat in the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo), raising the prospect of a battle with authorities after being barred from running in previous polls.
Wong is one of more than a dozen young, more confrontational politicians who outshone old guard democrats in an unofficial opposition primary earlier this month in what many saw as a protest vote against the national security legislation imposed by Beijing.
The Sept. 6 vote will see the democratic opposition try to reclaim some political influence in the LegCo, which is stacked with Beijing loyalists. Only half its seats are directly elected.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Political analysts and democracy activists expect authorities will try to disqualify some candidates.
“With the threat of being extradited to China, with the uncertainty of being sent to a black jail in Beijing, with the possibility of facing a life sentence ... I still hope to run for office and receive people’s mandate, and let the world know that we will continue our fight until our last breath,” Wong, who sees himself as a prime target of the new law, told reporters.
“We hope to let the world know how we choose not to surrender, how we choose not to kowtow to China,” he added.
In the past four years, authorities have barred 18 democrats from running in elections, including Wong, the group Civil Rights Observer said.
Wong, who was 17 when he became the face of the 2014 student-led “Umbrella movement” protests, was not been a leading figure of the often violent protests that shook the territory last year.
He was disqualified from running in last year’s district council elections on the grounds that advocating for Hong Kong’s self-determination violated electoral law, which he described at the time as political censorship.
Wong has said he supports the idea of a non-binding referendum for people to have a say over Hong Kong’s future, but that he is against independence.
Additional reporting by AP
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