Hong Kong Democratic Party leader Emily Lau decides not to seek re-election in 2016
The long-time lawmaker wants new faces to run in the city’s post-Occupy Central era, and her deputy announces he won’t seek a legislative ‘super seat’
The Democratic Party is facing the end of an era as its leader Emily Lau Wai-hing will not seek re-election this year, leaving the legislature she has served since 1991.
Saying she would share her thoughts at a press conference today, Lau’s decision came after the district council elections in November – the first citywide polls since the pro-democracy Occupy movement – during which voters preferred young new faces over veterans.
The shake-up announced on New Year’s Eve also revealed that two rising stars of the party, Southern district councillors Lo Kin-hei and Henry Chai Man-hon, have both given up contesting the Legislative Council elections, placing the prospect of the city’s biggest pro-democracy force in question.
READ MORE: Tough reporter who became city’s own Iron Lady
Lo, the Democrats’ vice-chairman who won re-election last month by a wide margin, was tipped to succeed outgoing veteran lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan in contesting the so-called “super seat”, a poll involving some 3.2 million voters not eligible to vote in a functional constituency.
But the 31-year-old said he did not wish at this time to go further as he sought to contemplate his future.
“I have been making a dash for 10 years [in the political arena] and it is time for me to halt and reflect upon my life,” said Lo, adding that he wanted to take a chance to learn something new before determining if politics would be his lifelong career.
Instead, incumbent James To Kun-sun, young district councillors Ted Hui Chi-fung and Roy Kwong Chun-yu, a romance novelist, were eyeing the two entry tickets for the super seats.