Major Hong Kong parties face leadership quandaries in wake of Legislative Council elections

The pressure is on for political groups to rejuvenate their leadership after many young candidates were elected to the legislature

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Wong Kwok-kin could become the leader of Federation of Trade Unions lawmakers. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:30pm, 6 Sep 2016Updated: 11:29pm, 6 Sep 2016

When the last ballots were counted and the new face of the Legislative Council emerged, it was the picture of youth that captured headlines.

As the two traditional political blocs watch this younger generation head into the legislature, they must look at their own greying ranks and wonder about their own leadership renewal. Do they have enough young people in the wings or are they doomed to seeing their numbers decline?

On Monday, Demosisto chairman Nathan Law Kwun-chung, a 23-year-old university student, became the youngest ever candidate to be elected to Legco. Several other winners from both sides of the political divide are also in their late 20s or early 30s, while a number of veterans, in their 60s, were defeated.

They included the Federation of Trade Unions’ Wong Kwok-hing, 67, and the Liberal Party’s honorary chairman James Tien Pei-chun, 69. In the aftermath of the defeat, both parties are understood to be searching for a new leader among their lawmakers.

For the FTU, Wong’s failure to retain outgoing colleague Chan Yuen-han’s “super seat” – one of five elected by 3.5 million registered voters – means that 64-year-old Wong Kwok-kin, who has been a lawmaker for eight years, will have the most experience. He will probably be the preferred leader of the FTU’s five lawmakers in the coming term.

The federation’s Alice Mak Mei-kuen and Kwok Wai-keung won their second Legco term, while the other two were newly returned without contest.