Yau Wai-ching among three localists on list of top 10 most popular Hong Kong lawmakers
University of Hong Kong poll places incoming Youngspiration legislator in ninth place amid controversy over swearing-in session last week, with the Democratic Party’s James To Kun-sun leading the pack and Eddie Chu Hoi-dick in second
Controversial incoming localist legislator Yau Wai-ching, who has yet to formally become a lawmaker due to her oath being rejected last week, has made it onto a list of the top 10 most popular members of the Legislative Council in a University of Hong Kong poll released on Tuesday.
Yau was ranked ninth most popular, with a score of 37.4 out of 100.
Her party colleague Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang failed to make it onto the top 10.
The Youngspiration duo drew criticism last week after using “insulting and derogatory” words during their swearing-in session. The pair pronounced China as “Chee-na”, a variation of the derogatory term “Shina” used by Japan during the second world war.
They also displayed a banner with the slogan “Hong Kong is not China” while being sworn in. Their oaths were invalidated.
Two other localists that made the top 10 list were Eddie Chu Hoi-dick of activist group Land Justice League and Nathan Law Kwun-chung of Demosisto, according to the poll by the university’s public opinion programme.
Chu, a vocal critic of the government’s rural land policies, scored 56.5, making him the second most popular lawmaker behind only the Democratic Party’s James To Kun-sun, who notched up 57.3.
Law scored 45.4 and was ranked seventh.
The poll is conducted every three months and the latest one is the first since the new line-up for Legco was elected last month.
The two-stage poll interviewed 1,004 people. Respondents were asked to name their favourite lawmakers in the first round and the 12 most mentioned then entered a second stage in which respondents were told to award each a score.
On the pro-establishment side, only four legislators made it to the top 10.
Michael Tien Puk-sun of the New People’s Party was ranked third with 53.9, while in fourth, with a score of 48.7, was Starry Lee Wai-king, chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
Tien’s party boss Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee narrowly lost out to Lee, placing fifth on the list with 48.4.
Super seat legislator Holden Chow Ho-ding of the DAB managed to clinch 10th place with a score of 36.7. Two so-called radical pan-democrats, Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, chairman of People Power, and “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats, ranked sixth and eighth respectively.
