Ready for battle? Doubts surface about Legco novices as average age of Hong Kong lawmakers falls to 49

The average age of Hong Kong’s lawmakers sworn in next month will be 49, making it the youngest chamber since the handover in 1997.

While the breakthrough of young guns in the Legislative Council elections on September 4 has been widely reported, a study by the Post has revealed the hard numbers of a more youthful, less experienced council, prompting concern about whether their lack of experience will affect the legislature’s operations and its ability to monitor the government.

Since the first Legco after the handover, the average age of legislators when first elected had hovered above 50, with the figure climbing over the years to around 54 in 2012.

That has now dropped to 49. While only seven lawmakers were below the age of 40 when elected in 2012, this time there were 17 winners below that age. At just 23, Demosisto’s Nathan Law Kwun-chung was the youngest.

More significantly, only 10 have more than a decade of experience in the council chamber, compared with 20 in the previous term.

Dr Chung Kim-wah, a political scientist at Polytechnic University, said it was difficult for the young legislator-elects to be well-prepared to take up their new roles.