Election loser bids to overturn result
An election candidate for Yau Tsim Mong who lost in the district council elections by two votes filed a petition to the High Court yesterday in a bid to have the result overturned.
Lam Kin-man, of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, claims the outcome of the poll in November was skewed by vote-rigging and the winning candidate's allegedly 'illegal' conduct.
Lam narrowly lost to non-affiliated candidate and social worker Edward Leung Wai-kuen, who got 1,045 votes. He is taking Leung and the returning officer for the King's Park constituency, Vicki Kwok Wong Wing-ki, to court seeking a fresh election. 'Winning the petition is not the most important thing,' he said.
'I want to claim justice for myself, whatever the chance of winning is. I lost by only two votes.'
Lam, a lawyer, is the first losing candidate to file a court petition over the election, which was hit by vote-rigging claims and is the subject of an investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Lam said his case was backed by the ICAC's arrest of 23 suspects in the constituency, of which seven had appeared in court accused of registering for the election with false addresses. Lam says Leung unlawfully stated in his election materials he had the support of 57 medical and legal professionals and local organisations.
He says Leung did not secure written consent from his supporters - a requirement under the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance - making them 'false claims'.
Leung admitted not having obtained written consent, but said he had his supporters' oral consent.
'One should understand that running in an election is a race against time,' he said. 'I did not do it deliberately. It was an oversight that I had committed in haste.'
The deadline for filing a complaint is Tuesday.
