Hong Kong electoral officials ‘may have exceeded scope of duty’ by barring candidates, former Legco head Jasper Tsang says
He says these civil servants appointed by the Electoral Affairs Commission for the one-off posts were supposed to do only administrative work
Electoral officials in Hong Kong might have exceeded the scope of their duties when they barred three opposition candidates from a coming by-election, a former Legislative Council president said on Friday as he called for a review of the rules.
Returning officers had barred Chow from running on the grounds that her party, Demosisto, advocated self-determination for the city, while they found that Lau and Chan had not genuinely changed their stance on Hong Kong independence.
“When the officers judge the candidates’ eligibility to stand for election based on their political views or advocacy of their political affiliations, they may have exceeded the expected scope of their duties,” Tsang said.
The pro-Beijing veteran added that the returning officers, who were civil servants appointed by the Electoral Affairs Commission for the one-off posts, were supposed to do administrative work, such as ensuring candidates had properly submitted the required documents.
Hong Kong’s election bans a far cry from European norms
