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Legco oath-taking saga
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong pro-government lawmakers ‘taking advantage’ by moving to restrict filibustering

Plan revealed to change legislature rules after summer recess as pan-democrats drag out discussion for seven hours at Finance Committee meeting

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Eddie Chu (centre) protests during the Legco Finance Committee meeting. Photo: David Wong
Kimmy ChungandElizabeth Cheung

Pro-government lawmakers will propose changing the procedural rules of the Legislative Council after the summer recess to restrict filibustering, in a move slammed by their rivals as “taking advantage”.

Their plan was revealed a day after HK$3.6 billion in education funding was approved as pan-democrats dragged out the debate for seven hours in protest against last week’s disqualification of four of their colleagues over a long-running oath-taking controversy.
Finance Committee chairman Chan Kin-por pushed through some of the remaining items for a vote amid chaos in the final 30 minutes of the last committee meeting before the summer recess, but five out of the eight funding requests remained untouched.
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Pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, member of committee on rules of procedure, told the Post that their camp would raise proposals to restrict filibuster at council meetings when Legco resumes in October.

Finance Committee chairman Chan Kin-por is hoping for changes to meeting rules to reduce the length of sessions. Photo: David Wong
Finance Committee chairman Chan Kin-por is hoping for changes to meeting rules to reduce the length of sessions. Photo: David Wong
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Changes to the rulebook requires support from both the geographic and functional constituencies, which are both dominated by the pro-government camp after six lawmakers from its rival camp have been disqualified over their oath-taking antics since November.

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