Hongkong Post’s deadline forcing candidates to censor campaign material
Two pro-independence candidates removed “sensitive” content from their leaflets in the hope of having them delivered to voters by polling day
Two pro-independence candidates have accused Hongkong Post of strong-arming them into censoring their campaign material in order to have leaflets posted on time.
Chan Chak-to and Sixtus “Baggio” Leung Chung-hang told the Post that they had to censor their leaflets in order to meet Hongkong Post’s submission deadline of Friday, August 12, for all candidates’ material.
The pair said they removed any “sensitive” text in order to avoid approval delays, meet the deadline and have their leaflets delivered by polling day on September 4.
It comes after six pro-independence advocates were disqualified from the September elections, a decision widely criticised as unlawful.
Candidate for Kowloon East, Chan Chak-to met the post office’s deadline and had his leaflet approved on Monday – five days after he submitted the two-page document for approval.
“Speech bans and electoral bans cannot stop the flow of ideas,” his final leaflet read. “My political belief is — —.”
In the leaflet, Chan criticised the Electoral Affairs Commission for “suppressing freedom of speech and exercising political censorship”.