Getting Demosisto candidates elected in Hong Kong now impossible, say party leaders, as Nathan Law withdraws from frontline politics altogether
New chairman Ivan Lam says party will focus on spreading its message online as atmosphere towards direct action in Hong Kong has changed
Pro-democracy party Demosisto will stop putting candidates up for election after former chairman Nathan Law Kwun-chung said the current political climate made it impossible to win a seat.
Law, sitting alongside his replacement Ivan Lam Long-yin, made the announcement on a radio programme on Tuesday morning.
The pair said the party would not commit resources to fighting election campaigns and would go in a new direction, while Law plans to take a step back from frontline politics altogether.
“The path was clear in the past,” Law said. “For example, you could run to become a lawmaker. But now, it seems that such things are blocked.”
Agnes Chow Ting, who represented the party in a bid to take back Law’s seat in the Legco by-election in March, was banned from the contest after a returning officer judged that Demosisto’s desire for self-determination was incompatible with Hong Kong’s Basic Law.