LegCo by-election candidate suspected of vote buying

Lee Cheuk-yan, a candidate for Sunday’s Legislative Council by-election for the Kowloon West geographical constituency, may find himself embroiled in suspected attempt to bribe voters after his campaign volunteers were reported to be offering them “freebies”.

A video from a local resident, published on local online media Orange News, reveals that one of the candidate’s campaign volunteers was distributing campaign flyers for Lee Cheuk-yan in Mong Kok on Wednesday.

The volunteer offered two flyers at the same time. One was Lee’s campaign flyer, while the other featured Andy Yu Tak-po, saying the Yau Tsim Mong District Council member will give voters free calendars, soup and thermos flasks.

Andy Yu, a Civic Party member, is helping Lee with his campaign for a seat in the Kowloon West geographical constituency.

The volunteer said in the video that he was helping with Lee’s campaign because Yu had organized “trips” for him. He added that Yu often organized such trips.

Another video shows a volunteer of Lee giving away two similar flyers on Wednesday.

The flyer, featuring Yu, says people receiving the flyer can get free soup at Yu’s office the same day.

The resident who filmed the video went to Yu’s office for free soup, but discovered it is only available on Dec 1 — a week after the by-election.

All the videos were published on Orange News.

Lee confirmed to local media that the volunteers on camera were working for him. But he rejected any accusations of bribery.

Under the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, a person engages in corrupt conduct during an election if he or she, without a reasonable excuse, offers an advantage to another person as an inducement to vote for a particular candidate or candidates.

A total of five validly nominated candidates will compete for the by-election on Sunday. They are Ng Dick-hay, Judy Tzeng Li-wen, Lee Cheuk-yan, Frederick Fung Kin-kee and Rebecca Chan Hoi-yan.

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