Civic Party defends election strategy despite two big losses

The Civic Party on Tuesday continued to defend its election strategy that ended with two of its star members losing their seats.

Leader Alan Leong Kah-kit was asked by a radio interviewer whether fielding Audrey Eu Yuet-mee behind former medical-sector lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki in New Territories West was only a tactic to ensure that Kwok would win – suggesting Eu lacked the determination to win a second seat.

Leong rebutted the question “with a solemn clarification”.

“When I was trying to persuade Audrey to run, she believed that she had the chance to win a second seat, and she did her best as well – canvassing for support in the street five times a day … she reduced that to four times only after her volunteers said it was too much for them. So voters in New Territories West can be witnesses to her efforts.”

Tam Yiu-chung, chairman of the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), who was re-elected in New Territories West, doubted Leong’s response.

“I agree that Eu was trying to ensure Kwok won because [otherwise] Kwok might have done no better than Fernando Cheung,” he said on the same programme, referring to the former welfare-sector legislator and Civic Party member who lost in 2008.