Hong Kong’s political opposition set to benefit from ‘sympathy votes’ after activist barred from by-election
Pan-democratic camp hope to capitalise on public anger over block on Agnes Chow Ting, as legal expert calls decision to bar her a ‘discrediting of the democratic process’
Hong Kong’s opposition politicians are hoping to turn a setback to their advantage and harvest more votes from supporters outraged by the banning of pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow Ting from running in the coming Legislative Council by-election.
The pan-democratic camp said on Saturday it would replace Chow with backup candidate Au Nok-hin in the Hong Kong Island constituency race.
The pan-democrats expressed worries that more candidates from their camp would be disqualified over their political views and urged the public to join their protest rally planned for Sunday.
Also up in the air is the fate of another hopeful from the camp, former lawmaker Edward Yiu Chung-yim, who intends to run for the Kowloon West constituency seat but could be barred on grounds stemming from his previous disqualification for improper oath taking.
Yiu did not evaluate his chances on Saturday, but said he would accompany “plan B” candidate Ramon Yuen Hoi-man of the Democratic Party to sign up on Monday, the deadline for the nomination period.