Moderate Hong Kong group Path of Democracy set to field three candidates in Legislative Council elections
Convenor Ronny Tong says they could team up with other middle-of-the-road candidates to influence the political climate
The Path of Democracy think tank is planning to field up to three candidates in the Legislative Council polls in an attempt to forge an alliance of moderates and “revitalise” Hong Kong’s legislature.
Announcing its plan on Friday, the group’s convenor and former legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah hoped the blueprint would help achieve “one man, one vote” for the election of the city’s chief executive.
Tong quit the Civic Party and Legco in June last year after a Beijing-decreed electoral reform package was voted down by pan-democrats, including himself.
Tong resigned mainly because he said the camp had failed to come up with a feasible proposal to lobby Beijing, and he would rather spend time looking for a “middle way” through his think tank.
After months of speculation, Tong said on Friday that the think tank recently endorsed three possible candidates for the Legco polls in September. They are the group’s co-convenor, Joseph Lau Pui-wing, and governors Gary Wong Chi-him and Raymond Mak Ka-chun, but the plan is still subject to the think tank’s final approval next month.