Pan-democrats make right call

Views from around the world. These opinions are not necessarily shared by newspapers.

Most opposition lawmakers have made the right decision to stay on after an opinion poll showed their supporters were divided. This followed the government’s postponement of the September Legislative Council elections for at least a year and extension of the normal four-year term as part of the emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Some lawmakers say this does not justify extending the mandate they won at the last election. The vote of 47.1 per cent in favour of staying and 45.8 per cent for leaving was hardly convincing. It reflected the rise of radical rifts in the opposition camp that have made compromise difficult, even in times of a global health crisis.

But it remains unclear how opposition members could serve Hong Kong better by resigning from Legco. A mass boycott in times of continuing political uncertainty would seem calculated to do more harm than good, given that the city has rarely been more in need of unity in the face of adversity.

For all of their misgivings about the circumstances, the pan-democrats, as a de facto and diverse opposition to amore united front of government supporters, are indispensable to a meaningful role for the Legislative Council in vetting government funding, policies and proposals.

Their decision averted the risk of aweak opposition voice.