Election bombshell: threats and attempted bribery alleged as Hong Kong’s New Territories West Legco candidate drops out of poll race
Ken Chow Wing-kan of Liberal Party says he fears people close to him may be under threat if he continues his election campaign
Liberal Party aspirant Ken Chow Wing-kan, who is running for a Legislative Council seat in New Territories West, dropped a bombshell on Thursday night by announcing he would stop his electioneering for fear of “people close to him paying a heavy price”.
Chow’s abrupt move has sparked speculation on whether the Yuen Long district councillor is being pressured by Beijing’s liaison office, which is allegedly coordinating the election campaign of the pro-establishment camp.
Meanwhile, one of Chow’s rivals, Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, admitted on Friday morning that one of his volunteers had proposed bringing men to “pursue” Chow before and after the election forum “until he had no mood for such forums anymore”. The assistant was heard talking about it in a voice clip provided to the media by Chow before the forum on Thursday night. But Ho said he decided not to take any such action.
In an interview with magazine E-Weekly last week, Chow admitted that he was earlier approached by a middleman to quit the race for a hefty sum of money – double the amount of his election expenses. Chow, a long-time district councillor and a member of the pro-establishment Liberal Party with close ties with the rural gentry, claimed he had told the middleman that such deals were illegal and that he still believed he was free to contest in a democratic society like Hong Kong.
During the New Territories West election forum organised by Cable TV on Thursday night, Chow – dressed all in black – was the only candidate who brought no banners or other publicity materials with him.
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