Lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung on Friday lost his appeal against a refusal, by the High Court, to hear his judicial challenge against the president of the Legislative Council.
Last May legislature chief Tsang Yok-sing decided to halt Leung’s filibuster against a piece of legislation, leading to the lawmaker’s challenge.
The panel of three Court of Appeal judges dismissed Leung’s appeal, emphasising the cardinal principles of separation of powers and parliamentary privilege. The panel upheld the earlier ruling that lawmakers have no constitutional right to filibuster.
It also upheld a lower court’s order that Leung, of the League of Social Democrats, should pay legal costs to Tsang arising from the original hearing. It further ruled Leung must pay Tsang, and the secretary for justice, costs related to the appeal.
Central to the case is Tsang’s decision, on May 17, to invoke for the first time powers in Legco’s rules of procedure to halt a long debate on a legislative bill. The legislation in question was to bar lawmakers who resign from standing in a by-election for six months.
In their filibuster, Leung – and lawmakers Wong Yuk-man and Albert Chan Wai-yip – had proposed 1,300 amendments to the election law, dragging the debate out to about 36 hours before Tsang halted it.
The bill, which passed on June 1, was introduced to prevent a repetition of a “de facto referendum” on political reform, when five pan-democrat legislators resigned in 2010 only to contest the same seats.