Carrie Lam Impeachment Fails

The government has done nothing to end the protests now into sixth month

So it turns out there is a mechanism to impeach the chief executive of Hong Kong, which was attempted today, but failed, thanks to spineless pro-Beijing politicians who decided to side with the government no matter what.

A motion was made to impeach Carrie Lam today, but failed

The motion to remove Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor from office was launched by Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu under Article 73 of the Basic Law, but failed to pass after a vote of 36 to 26 against. The votes broke down to 16 votes for and 14 against in the geographical constituency and 10 votes for and 22 against in the functional constituency. There needed to be a majority on both constituencies to pass.

While Lam can breathe a sigh of relief, it wasn't without some blistering criticism from pro-Beijing lawmakers. They were pissed at the government for leading them down the garden path to support the extradition bill in the first place, which resulted in their dismal performance in the recent District Council elections.

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king lambasted the government for doing too little too late to end the protests.

Starry Lee criticized the government, but voted against motion

Addressing Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung in the Legislative Council, Lee said: "... you said last month that nothing can be done to stop radicals from destroying our tunnel facilities. Do you know how many people were so angry about what you said?" Lee said.

"The justice secretary was not at the forefront in explaining the government's position over the past six months... and the undersecretaries have not said a word to help."

But in the end Lee said her party would vote against the impeachment motion because removing Lam would create more chaos and a power vacuum.

Meanwhile Business and Professionals Alliance's Abraham Razack, who represents the real estate sector, described the government in "omnishambles" for not offering a political solution to the social unrest.

Abraham Razack said Lam was "aloof" and "uncompromising"

He too said Lam should stay on as chief executive, though he criticized her for being "aloof and uncompromising".

It was also reported that the liaison office was approaching pro-Beijing lawmakers to see how they would vote. The influence on Hong Kong politics is much too obvious and causes resentment all round.

But perhaps the liaison office is too clueless to realize that.

In the meantime, if these protests continue, and at this rate it looks like they will, the pro-Beijing politicians may not be able to stand it much longer and if the motion under Article 73 is launched again, they just might side with the pro-democracy side.

We all want this to end, and one way is to get rid of Lam. At least it would be a step forward after six months of protests.

Last week's turnout was around 380,000 in Tsim Sha Tsui

Sunday will see its first large-scale march from Causeway Bay to Central since August 18... it seems an eternity ago after what has happened.

It's interesting the Hong Kong Police are allowing these protest marches to happen, though the one last weekend in Tsim Sha Tsui was revoked the Letter of No Objection for the march an hour after it started, which gave the force reason to fire tear gas on protesters...

It never ends, does it?