Pan-democrat lawmaker ‘asked to abstain in Hong Kong reform vote to make things look better’
Pan-democratic lawmaker Kenneth Leung claimed he received a late-night telephone call urging him to abstain in the vote on Hong Kong’s political reform instead of voting it down.
A pan-democratic lawmaker this morning claimed he received a telephone call late last night urging him to abstain in the vote on Hong Kong’s political reform instead of voting it down.
Accountancy sector legislator Kenneth Leung said the call he got at 11pm was from a “friend who has good connections with both pan-democrats and the pro-establishment”.
“The person told me abstention would make the whole thing look better [instead of a no-vote],” Leung said. ”I’m not sure if he was acting as a middleman for some people or was just talking to me for himself. He didn’t offer anything for a change of mind though.”
Leung told the media of the news this morning as the Legislative Council prepared for a historic debate on the government’s reform proposal for the 2017 chief executive election.
He is among the 27 pan-democratic lawmakers who have pledged to reject the proposal, thereby denying it the two-thirds majority in Legco it needs to be passed.
Last week, League of Social Democrats lawmaker ”Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung told the press a middleman had approached him earlier, saying he would be rewarded with money that would be “enough for the rest of his life and his next life” if he cast a “yes” vote.