By-election victory ‘significant’, Tam says
The outcome of the Legislative Council by-election on March 11 was significant for Hong Kong’s pro-establishment camp, said Tam Yiuchung, the city’s newly elected National People’s Congress Standing Committee member.
The former chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong made the remarks after the pro-establishment camp won two of the four seats.
Tony Tse Wai-chuen regained his seat in the Architecture, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency.
More importantly, DAB rising star Vincent Cheng Wing-shun broke new ground by overcoming an opponent who was largely backed by the opposition camp to secure the Kowloon West geographical constituency.
Cheng’s triumph was very significant, Tam said.
He is the first pro-establishment candidate to win a by-election in a geographical constituency. His victory also ensures the pro-establishment camp outnumbers the opposition in both geographical and functional constituencies in LegCo.
“We knew it was a very tough battle. In Kowloon West alone, our voter base was smaller than the opposition’s by about 50,000 votes,” said Tam.
“The turnout rate for byelections is usually lower. But our camp not only maintains more or less the same number of votes but also manages a growth of several thousand votes, while the rival camp suffered a bigger loss of votes.
“We were very united and worked very hard, demonstrating a strong fighting spirit and hoping for a breakthrough.”
Tam went on to criticize the rival camp’s strategies.
“They looked down upon our candidate, but Vincent is a better candidate in terms of quality and appearance. He has been a district councilor for 10 years in that area, forging close ties with residents and performing solid district services.
“The opponent had done no district work and advocated only political issues. He had the misfortune of being a ‘disqualified lawmaker’, while scandals also surfaced from their primary election,” Tam commented.
“As he focused on online electioneering, he was therefore desperately ‘off the ground’, not knowing that many residents were grassroots people and elderly,” he added.
Many pro-establishment members had wanted to take leave from the two sessions meetings in Beijing to come back to vote. Yet discipline was very strict this year.
Some Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee delegates came back to vote because March 11 was a day off for them. All 36 NPC deputies did not return to Hong Kong.
Tam said March 11 was an unsuitable date because it clashed with NPC and CPPCC meetings, and the NPC deputies wanted to apply for permission to return but it happened to be the day for voting on the revised Constitution.
“Many of us are also unhappy that two by-elections, instead of only one, would be held. As you know, two byelections not only cost more money and we also have to do a lot more electioneering work,” Tam added.
We were very united and worked very hard, demonstrating a strong fighting spirit and hoping for a breakthrough.”
Tam Yiu-chung,