Rural leader Junius Ho set to run in Hong Kong Legislative Council elections in September

Competition in the race for Legislative Council seats in the New Territories West constituency is set to get sharper, with rural leader Junius Ho Kwan-yiu planning to run as an independent in the September elections.

Besides securing backing from village leaders in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Islands districts, Ho – an indigenous Tuen Mun villager and former Law Society president – also hinted he had been given the go-ahead by Beijing.

“I have been keeping regular contact with the Beijing liaison office and they do not find me unpleasant,” said Ho, who was however quick to add: “No one has asked me to run. And no one has asked me not to run either.”

Ho hopes his background can attract voters from both the rural community and the moderate middle class. “Besides being a member of the rural community, I am also a professional. I am a lawyer. I believe this can attract voters too,” Ho said.

Ho stood for a seat representing the legal functional constituency in the Legislative Council elections in 2008 and then in 2012 from New Territories West. He was defeated on both occasions. In the 2012 election, he collected only 10,805 votes.

Regarded as a pro-establishment liberal, he sent shockwaves through political circles when he unseated former Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan in last year’s district council elections.