Will activist duo be banned from by-elections? Pan-dems demand answers from beleaguered justice chief

About 10 lawmakers march to office of justice minister Teresa Cheng to ask why Agnes Chow and Edward Yiu have not been validated as candidates in March 11 polls

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Pan-democrats waited outside justice secretary Teresa Cheng’s office to demand an explanation for why two pro-democracy activists had not yet been confirmed as candidates for the March 11 by-election. Photo: Edward Wong

Published: 6:31am, 26 Jan 2018Updated: 9:34am, 26 Jan 2018

Hong Kong’s opposition lawmakers pulled the city’s embattled justice minister into the thick of another brewing issue on Thursday evening, when about 10 of them descended on her office and demanded to know why two pro-democracy activists had not been confirmed as candidates for the upcoming Legislative Council by-elections.

The pan-democrats had earlier failed to get a satisfactory answer from the government’s Registration and Electoral Office, on whether there was truth to media reports that the two activists could be barred from the March 11 polls.

Both have not had their candidacies confirmed, despite submitting the necessary applications.

One of them is 21-year-old Agnes Chow Ting, whose political party Demosisto supports Hong Kong’s “self-determination”. Pro-Beijing constitutional affairs experts suggested this could be problematic as all election candidates must declare they accept the city as an inalienable part of China.

The other candidate, Edward Yiu Chung-yim, was disqualified from Legco last year over an oath-taking saga.

But Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, who has been plagued by a three-week-long scandal over illegal structures on her property, told the lawmakers through a staff member that she would not meet them.

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