Call to display 'July 1 spirit' at by-elections
The Civic Party last night called on the public to invoke the 'July 1 spirit', as it formally announced its decision to participate in a resignation plan with the League of Social Democrats, saying it was a last-ditch fight for genuine universal suffrage.
The plan will see one lawmaker from each of the five geographical constituencies resign by the end of next month, before the government's constitutional-reform consultation ends. The resulting by-elections are seen as a de facto referendum on universal suffrage.
'The people should invoke the spirit of July 1, 2003,' party vice-chairman Alan Leong Kah-kit said. He said that, as in the 2003 rally where half a million protesters forced the government to shelve the Article 23 national security bill, society should mobilise to fight for universal suffrage.
The Civic Party said that although details of the plan had yet to be finalised, bilateral meetings were being held almost daily. It was also considering the league's plan to create a 10,000-strong canvassing team to be jointly led by the two parties.
Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee said the party had no choice but to take part in this 'new civil movement', as a growing number of people felt 'a sense of helplessness' after exhausting other means of pushing for universal suffrage.
Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang pledged that she would help the two parties in canvassing work.
Asked whether she would campaign for league chairman Wong Yuk-man, whose radical actions in the legislature she has criticised in the past, Chan said: 'Not approving of his actions doesn't mean I don't support his fight for democracy.'
