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Pro-democracy political party Demosisto to shift focus away from seeking Hong Kong Legislative Council seats as it supports social movements
Group co-founded by Occupy movement leader Joshua Wong and disqualified lawmaker Nathan Law cites deprivation of its members’ ‘political rights’
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Hong Kong’s youngest political party co-founded by student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has declared it will shift its focus from contesting elections to backing social movements, claiming officials have blocked its path to the city’s councils.
The “declaration of transition” was issued on Friday at the party’s second anniversary dinner, attended by Wong, a leader of the pro-democracy Occupy movement of 2014, and Nathan Law Kwun-chung, a disqualified lawmaker who co-founded and recently led the organisation.
“We considered Demosito a political party when we founded it, with participation in electoral politics an important direction,” the statement read. “After our members were being repeatedly deprived of their political rights, the road to election has clearly been suspended.”
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Law was elected to the Legislative Council two years ago, but was disqualified last year by the court over his improper oath-taking in October 2016. Demosisto put forward a candidate, its standing committee member Agnes Chow Ting, to try to retake Law’s seat in a special by-election. However, officials banned Chow from running on the grounds that Demosisto’s call for self-determination was “unconstitutional”.
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Law stepped down last week from his post as party chairman, while vice-chairwoman Tiffany Yuen Ka-wai quit the party – a move seen as a tactic to avoid the risk of being banned from standing in the district council elections next year.
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