The unprecedented Legislative Council veto of the government's interim funding yesterday showed how small tactical errors can lead to political failure.
Officials chose a time for the vote when 13 government allies were in Beijing, 12 of them attending the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Two pro-government lawmakers - Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee and David Li Kwok-po - were in Legco in the morning, but left before the vote.
The government needed the votes of more than half of those present in Legco - there were 36 lawmakers present so it needed 19 votes to win. A simple head count might have prompted officials to withdraw the funding request and save them embarrassment. In the event, 17 cast a supporting vote, 14 pan-democrats abstained and four did not cast a ballot. Legco president Tsang Yok-sing does not vote.
Lawmakers in Beijing said they had not been asked by the government to fly back to Hong Kong and vote, this despite a whole-day break for the NPC yesterday and a half-day break for the CPPCC in the afternoon.
Ip admitted her negligence but lambasted the government for its attitude over securing votes.
'I take responsibility on that [veto of the motion], but I did not anticipate there would not be enough votes, and that the government did not make any lobbying effort,' said Ip, chairwoman of the New People's Party. She left Legco at about 1pm to attend a function. As the funding was put to a vote slightly after 3pm, she said: 'I was tackling a private matter at that time.'
She said the burden fell on the government and that the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau never liaised with her on the vote.