Hong Kong Occupy co-founder Benny Tai unveils ‘Project Storm’ to win more district council seats for pan-democrats

HKU academic Benny Tai believes gaining greater say on body that picks the city’s leader could force Beijing to restart political reform

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Benny Tai Yiu-ting was the architect of last year’s ‘ThunderGo’ voting plan seeking to help pan-democratic candidates. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 7:05pm, 30 Apr 2017Updated: 10:40pm, 2 May 2017

A co-founder of Hong Kong’s Occupy movement has floated yet another strategic voting plan that he believes will help pan-democrats prevail in the next district council elections amid doubts that it is too optimistic.

Undeterred by his previous initiatives courting controversy or being cold-shouldered, Benny Tai Yiu-ting believes his new plan called “Project Storm” will compel Beijing to restart Hong Kong’s now-stalled political reform.

The legal scholar targeted the 2019 elections because he said by winning a majority of the 431 district council seats, pan-democrats could gain an additional 117 seats on the 1,200-member Election Committee that picks the chief executive, making it harder for Beijing to control the top job race.

“The ball to restart political reform is in the government’s court,” he said. “There is nothing we can do now to force it.”

Tai is a legal scholar affiliated with the University of Hong Kong. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

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