DAB's Leung Che-cheung to take on radicals over filibustering
New Territories West lawmaker says he will support plans to make filibustering harder
Newly elected lawmaker Leung Che-cheung will support efforts to amend Legco's rules on procedures to prevent filibustering, even though he is aware the move has little chance of success.
Leung, of the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, made the pledge after his six-member slate won the ninth and final New Territories West seat with 33,777 votes, increasing the party's seats in the constituency from two to three.
"The legislature is for deliberating policies but not for mischievousness," the 18-year Yuen Long District Council veteran said.
"Legislators should have the right to speak, but the right should not be turned into a weapon to paralyse the operation of the Legislative Council. Our attempt may be voted down, but we still have to try."
His remarks came after radical legislators filibustered earlier this year in a bid to block a government restructuring plan and a bill to prevent lawmakers who resigned from standing in a by-election for six months.
The government decided in July to put off the tabling of the revamp plan. On the controversial bill to restrict by-elections, Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing ended the lengthy debate by invoking Article 92 of Legco's rules of procedure, which empowers the president to decide on matters not bound by existing rules.