Almost Half District Councillors Quit over "Patriotism"

Democratic Party head Lo Kin-hei resigned as district councillor

 

Back in November 2019, Hong Kong held its district council elections amid the anti-government protests, and in a landslide, 452 of the 479 directly elected seats were taken by pro-democracy parties. Seventy-one percent of the population cast their votes, an unprecedented turnout in local elections.

However since the national security law was implemented last June and the government has changed the electoral laws, making it a requirement for municipal-level councillors to pledge allegiance and be patriotic before being able to run for office, the situation has changed completely.

The electoral map became almost yellow in 2019

Of the 452 pro-democracy district councillors in all 18 districts, 220 have resigned, including Lo Kin-hei, who is also chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party.

Some are in jail awaiting to face charges for taking part in the primaries that were held last July.

With Lo resigning, it doesn't look like Hong Kong's largest traditional pro-democracy party will take part in the upcoming Legislative Council elections in September.

Lo, the party's youngest ever leader, apologized to his constituency for failing to complete his four-year term and explained his concerns for the new requirements to prove one's "patriotism".

"That kind of uncertainty is a major constraint for me to carry out my community work... I don't want to keep on being threatened for a very long time," he said.

"I don't know when there will be other reasons to deal with district councillors. I think [resigning] is a clearer way to head into the future."

Under a new oath-taking law aimed at removing "unpatriotic"office-holders that took effect in May, authorities have the power to unseat councillors if their pledges were deemed invalid. 

What will this year's election look like?

Sources say the authorities would require those disqualified to return about HK$1 million (US$128,205) in salary and other funds received since taking office.

Ivan Choy Chi-keung, senior lecturer at Chinese University's department of government and public administration, said he was "not optimistic" the Democratic Party would run in September's polls. 

"I think several months ago, there was still such a possibility. But in these few months, the situation has become worse and worse because of the closing of Apple Daily, the arrest of additional members of the democratic camp and also because of the [disqualification] issue," he said.

"The overall political atmosphere is not positive for them to pass a resolution to participate in the future Legislative Council elections."

Choy believes Beijing still wants to have some "so-called democrats" to run to give the appearance of a fair election, and some may take that opportunity to run, which may cause a split in the party. 

Anything can happen between now and September...