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Lai Ying-kit

Hongkongers have not indicated a strong desire in public discourse to lower the minimum age for Legislative Council election candidates, acting chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor says.
Lam was responding to a judicial review application filed by student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung to challenge a rule in election laws requiring people contesting Legco seats to be aged at least 21.
Wong wants the High Court to lower the minimum age to 18 – the same as for the national and local people’s congresses of the People’s Republic of China.
READ MORE: Running man: Occupy leader Joshua Wong launches court fight for right to run for Hong Kong legislature below age 21 
Lam said ahead of an Executive Council meeting today: “In the process of taking Hong Kong forward in democratic development, and in discussions with the Legislative Council and the public on electoral arrangements, we have not come across a very strong desire to lower the age from 21 to 18.”
Even if a strong desire for such a change emerged now, she said, any amendments to election laws were unlikely to happen in time for the Legco election next year.
“It appears time is very tight,” she said.
Wong, who turned 19 today, applied to the High Court yesterday for a judicial review challenging the rule, arguing that many other jurisdictions – including mainland China – allowed people to seek office at 18.
The convenor of pro-democracy student group Scholarism said Hongkongers had the right to vote at 18 years old, and should therefore be allowed to stand in elections at this age.
He also said that if he succeeded in the review, he would contest the upcoming Legco poll.
He hoped his move would encourage more young people to do the same.
“In the previous Legco election [in 2012], no one who was younger than 40 led any candidate ticket from the pro-democracy camp,” Wong said today.
“I think every age group wants to have a representative in the legislature to speak up for them.”


No strong desire among Hongkongers to lower minimum age of poll candidates, Carrie Lam says

Any revisions to election laws are unlikely to happen in time for the Legco election next year, acting chief executive Carrie Lam says. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Any revisions to election laws are unlikely to happen in time for the Legco election next year, acting chief executive Carrie Lam says. Photo: Kenneth Chan

Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong believes every age group will want to have a legislative representative to speak up for it. Photo: Felix Wong

Running man: Occupy leader Joshua Wong launches court fight for right to run for Hong Kong legislature below age 21

Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong shows his application to the High Court seeking a judicial review of the age restriction on legislative election candidates. Photo: Felix Wong

Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong shows his application to the High Court seeking a judicial review of the age restriction on legislative election candidates. Photos: Felix Wong

Mainlanders as young as 18 can stand for election to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Joshua Wong says. 

Mainlanders as young as 18 can stand for election to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Joshua Wong says. Photo: Felix Wong

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