Democracy activist jailed over 2014 Occupy protests applies for judicial review of laws banning him from standing in Hong Kong elections for five years
- Lawyers for Raphael Wong of the League of Social Democrats say disqualification violates city’s Bill of Rights and Basic Law
- Wong was jailed for eight months after being convicted of two charges of incitement over civil disobedience movement
A Hong Kong democracy activist has applied for a judicial review challenging three laws that bar him from standing for election in the next five years because he was jailed for more than three months over the 2014 Occupy protests.
Raphael Wong Ho-ming, 30, on Wednesday filed an application to the High Court for declarations that the ordinances governing the Legislative Council, District Council and rural representative elections contain unconstitutional provisions which should be nullified.
At issue was a stipulation found in all three ordinances that disqualifies a person from being nominated to elections for five years if he or she is jailed for more than three months, regardless of whether the term has been suspended or not.
Wong, a vice-chairman of the League of Social Democrats, said his burgeoning political career is directly affected because he would consider standing for four such upcoming elections were it not for the provisions triggered by the eight-month jail term meted out to him by the District Court on April 24.
“Having settled down in prison and started to consider his future plans to stand for elections, the applicant promptly prepared this application with his legal team,” his application read.
The three laws being challenged are the Legislative Council Ordinance, the District Councils Ordinance and the Rural Representative Election Ordinance.
It is not the first time that the ordinances’ disqualification provisions have been challenged.
Student leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung lodged a similar application in November 2017 after the Court of Appeal replaced his community service order with a six-month jail term for taking part in an unlawful assembly in the run-up to the Occupy protests, which shut down major roads as protesters called on the government to expand the scope of Hong Kong’s democracy.
But the case did not proceed after the Court of Final Appeal quashed the jail term the following February.
Both Wongs have complained that the disqualification provisions violate Article 21 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights and Article 26 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, which provide residents with the right to vote as well as the right to stand for election.
In the present case, barristers Hectar Pun SC and Anson Wong Yu-yat argued that the provisions do not pursue any legitimate aim and had no rational connection with the purported aim of maintaining public confidence in the councils and the integrity of their members.
“This is so because a blanket disqualification … without regard to the nature of the offence, would deprive the voters of the opportunity to make their own assessments as to the suitability of a candidate and unduly restrict the range of choice of good candidates from coming forward, thereby inhibiting the free express of the will of the electors and undermining public confidence,” the writ said.
They also argued that the blanket restriction was disproportionate because the period of five years is unnecessarily long and may have the effect of disqualifying a person for two consecutive terms if he or she is convicted in the 12 months before an election.
“But for the impugned provisions, the applicant may stand a reasonably good chance of being elected in those elections,” the lawyers wrote. “For the reasons set out above, the applicant respectfully asks this Honourable Court to allow his application and grant the relief sought.”
Raphael Wong has appealed against his conviction on two incitement charges and the subsequent eight months’ imprisonment arising from the District Court case of the Occupy protest on September 28, 2014. But no hearing date has yet been fixed.
