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Jeffie Lam

Joyce Ng

The oft-criticised functional constituencies which make up almost half of the Legislative Council are being voted on by some firms with no related business in their supposed field, the Post has found.
Two pro-Beijing youth groups can vote for the lawmaker of the wholesale and retail sector, while a property management agent can vote in the I.T. sector.
The 30 functional constituency seats have long been criticised for their “small circle” nature, with some sectors giving companies the right to vote.
Many government proposals have passed with the support of the functional constituency legislators, despite strong opposition from directly elected members.
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The provisional electoral roll showed HKSAR Nam Fung Youth Association and Hong Kong New Star Youth Association among 1,852 corporate voters with the right to elect the lawmaker for the wholesale and retail sector in the September polls.
According to its manifesto, Nam Fung Youth Association is a “patriotic youth group” established to boost patriotism and foster interaction with different sectors on the mainland.
Its chairman, Tony Chong Shu-wong, admitted the group had no operations in retail or wholesale, but said they were only doing what the law allowed.

Chong said his association, with 35 per cent of its members in the industry, was affiliated to the Federation of Hong Kong Kowloon New Territories Hawker Associations. A company or group can vote in the sector as long as it is a member of one of 85 listed bodies, like the federation.
Wong Yin-wa, the founding chairman of the Hong Kong New Star Youth Association, said the group was made up of “the offspring of retailers”.
Wong said the group’s main activities were “voluntary community services such as cleaning up the beaches.” The group is also a member of the federation.
A martial arts training centre, a bus company and a number of restaurants were also registered in the wholesale and retail sector.
But unlikely corporate voters also exist in other constituencies.
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In the I.T. sector, Hong Lok Yuen Property Management Company, which runs the Tai Po private housing estate, is registered. Aspokesman said it was eligible because it owned a broadcast radio relay station licence.
Overseas Employment Centre, an employment agency for foreign domestic helpers, is registered in the tourism sector. The company did not comment.
Among corporates that registered as voters in the tourism sector since the last election in 2012, at least eight have mainland or foreign majority shareholders.

Hong Kong China Merchants International Travel Company’s only shareholder lives in Heilongjiang province, while Gang Qing Lu (Hong Kong) International Travel’s lives in Huizhou, Guangdong.
And two of three shareholders in Vanuatu National Travel, operating in a subdivided factory unit in To Kwa Wan, hold Vanuatu passports. They did not report a Hong Kong identity card number to the Companies Registry.
Is it time for the judiciary to oversee Legislative Council procedures?
Ivan Choy Chi-keung, of the Chinese University, said the system of allowing groups to vote as long as they join certain organisations was flawed. “If they have a political agenda, they could open their doors [for membership] and thus invite vote-rigging,” he said.
Democrat Au Nok-hin, who plans to run for the retail and wholesale seat, said while the system had allowed unlikely corporate voters, many firms actually in the field – especially online sellers – were turned away.


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Dubious voters for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council functional constituencies revealed

Functional constituencies make up almost half of the Legislative Council’s 70 seats. Photo: Dickson Lee

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Polling station at the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children BOC Nursery School. 22NOV15

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Hong Kong

Politics

Seats for specific industries voted on by firms with tenuous links to those industries, under system which ‘could invite vote-rigging’
