Bid to stop 'endless debate' on budget
Legco boss seeks a way to avoid passage of bill being hijacked by filibustering as unionist calls for 'stamina battle' with radical pan-democrats
Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing says he is trying to find a way to avoid an "endless debate" over the budget next week because of filibustering by radical pan-democrats.
And unionist lawmaker Wong Kwok-hing yesterday called on the legislature to work around the clock to tackle the filibuster.
If there are hundreds of amendments, there will be hundreds of debates. We are unable to merge it into one, according to our legal advice
Both mainstream pan-democrats and pro-establishment lawmakers have also agreed to discuss ways to handle any stalling tactics in the future.
Radical pan-democrats had filed a total of 751 amendments to the bill by the deadline last night. Half of them were from League of Social Democrats lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung. The rest were filed by three People Power lawmakers.
Their protest is directed at the omission of a universal pension scheme from the budget. The proposed amendments include cutting the budget of nearly every department - starting with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
As the debate over each amendment is unlimited, provided it falls within the scope of the proposal, the filibuster could be time-consuming and costly. If each debate takes an hour, it could last up to 800 hours. That is 80 days of typical Legco sessions.