The recent resignations of five legislators from the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats, and their plan to turn the by-elections into a referendum, have obviously touched on the sensitivities of mainland authorities.
The latter not only asked the pro-establishment parties not to take part in the elections, but they have also fully mobilised the pro-Beijing front to condemn the referendum campaign as unconstitutional and illegal.
Certainly, criticising the referendum campaign is within the realm of freedom of speech but those who initiated and support the campaign are entitled to the same freedom.
The exploitation of resignations, by-elections and general elections to achieve political purposes are normal phenomena in democratic politics.
If the referendum campaign is illegal, then those who started it will be prosecuted. This is common sense in a law-abiding society. If political labelling and criticism go against common sense, they will be discredited.
In 2005, Tung Chee-hwa offered poor health and stress as the reasons for his resignation. Obviously the community did not want to investigate whether this really was the case, or criticise his act of resigning as a waste of public money because a by-election had to be held.