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Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said on Wednesday there was a ‘legal basis’ for the returning officer’s decision. Photo: Felix Wong

Row over election ban on localist escalates as Hong Kong justice minister’s explanation backfires

Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung argues Edward Leung Tin-kei did not touch on independence when he ran in February by-election

The row over the barring of a localist leader from next month’s Legislative Council elections intensified yesterday as the Hong Kong justice minister’s explanation backfired and 30 members of the committee that picks the city’s leader jointly questioned the power of electoral officials to make such decisions.

Justice minister Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung waded in to explain that Edward Leung Tin-kei was disqualified from the September 4 elections over his pro-independence views but not last February’s by-election because he did not make “an explicit independence claim” back then.

He was promptly accused of double standards and not doing his homework as Leung countered that he had openly advocated Hong Kong’s independence from China, a fact confirmed by the Post and other media outlets.

The justice chief tried to defend the Electoral Affairs Commission’s decision to disqualify Leung a day after returning officer Cora Ho Lai-sheung invalidated the Hong Kong Indigenous member’s candidacy on the grounds that he had no intention of upholding the Basic Law.

“The returning officer has already explained the argument clearly in her reply, which I think has a legal basis,” Yuen said.

But all 30 members of the legal sub-sector in the 1,200-strong Election Committee that picked Hong Kong’s leader in 2012 hit out in a joint statement yesterday.

They countered that returning officers were not empowered to investigate the “genuineness” of candidates’ declarations to respect the city’s mini-constitution, let alone make "a subjective and political decision to disqualify a candidate without following any due process on the purported ground that the candidate will not genuinely uphold the Basic Law”.

“Such an inquiry and decision are not only unlawful but amount to political censorship and screening by the returning officer without any legal basis,” they said.

The 30 committee members are all either from the pan-democratic camp or linked to it.

The election watchdog sparked uproar last month by imposing a new requirement on Legco candidates to sign an extra form reinforcing acceptance of the city’s status as an inalienable part of China, on top of the standard declaration to uphold the Basic Law.

In a complete U-turn to head off disqualification last week, Leung gave up his campaigning for independence and signed the additional form.

He still ended up being rejected, as the returning officer decided he had not “genuinely changed” his pro-independence stance. At the same time, the watchdog gave 42 lists of candidates from the pan-democratic and localist camps the green light to run even though they refused to sign the new form.

A check by the Post found Leung had promoted independence as early as last December – well before his candidacy for the by-election was validated and gazetted on January 29.

Leung vowed to challenge the ban in court, recalling that he had advocated independence “as a way out” for Hong Kong in a by-election forum before the February poll. “Why didn’t the returning officers immediately disqualify me back then?” he said.

He complained that the ban was tantamount to depriving him of his political rights for life.

“When will they eventually believe I will uphold the Basic Law? In four years or eight years?

Do I have to sign a ‘letter of repentance’ and pledge I won’t call for independence in front of six cameras?”

Chinese University political scientist Dr Ma Ngok said the justice minister’s explanation was “subjective, selective and unconvincing”.

“Many people have touched on independence one way or another but why some of them were qualified but others were not?”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: row over election ban on localist escalates
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