Chan takes LegCo seat in key contest
Opposition fails in bid to win back veto power in Kowloon West by-poll
Rebecca Chan Hoi-yan cruised to a comfortable victory in a tightly-fought race in Sunday’s crucial Legislative Council by-election in the Kowloon West geographical constituency, dealing another severe blow to the opposition camp’s hopes of regaining its veto power in the legislature.
Chan — a former television journalist and political assistant to former secretary for food and health Ko Wingman — edged out her closest rival Lee Cheuk-yan of the Labour Party, capturing over 105,000 votes.
Three other independent candidates — former opposition legislator Frederick Fung Kin-kee; Ng Dick-hay, a former spokesman for Defend Hong Kong Campaign; and Judy Tzeng Li-wen, a former member of People Power, trailed far behind.
Sunday’s turnout hit 44.4
44.4 percent the turnout in Sunday’s LegCo by-election
percent, or roughly 216,000 votes of the constituency’s 490,000 registered voters. It was slightly higher than that of the by-election in the same constituency on March 11 this year, but more than 13 percentage points lower than the turnout in the 2016 legislative polls.
Chan’s win marked the second defeat for the opposition camp in nearly nine months in its bid to recapture its ability to veto government bills.
Sunday’s by-election was the second triggered by the ouster of six opposition lawmakers for improperly taking their oaths following the 2017 legislative polls. It was to fill the seat vacated by Lau Siulai, who was among the six lawmakers disqualified.
In the first by-election sparked by the disqualifications held on March 11 this year, pro-establishment candidates captured two of four LegCo seats up for grabs — Vincent Cheng Wing-sun of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong won one seat, also in Kowloon West, while non-partisan Tony Tse Wa-chuen secured the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency.
Sunday’s results were announced by the returning officer early this morning (Monday) after voting ended at 10:30 pm.
According to Justice Barnabas Fung Wah, chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, the commission had received a total of 308 complaints during the day, with 128 of them related to election ads while the rest were mainly about noise caused by canvassing.
All the five candidates had a busy day scurrying for votes on a rain-swept polling day. At one stage, a scuffle broke out between supporters of Chan and Lee as both of them were canvassing near Whampoa MTR station in Hung Hom.
Drumming up support for Chan at the scene, her ex-boss, Ko Wing-man, said he felt “disappointed” by the opponent’s impolite behavior and remarks.
The last LegCo seat to be filled is that vacated by “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, who was disqualified for chanting political slogans while taking his oath. No date has yet been fixed for this by-election, pending the outcome of Leung’s appeal against his removal.