Pro-establishment heavyweight Starry Lee plans extra meeting at Hong Kong’s Legislative Council to end election saga and clear backlog
- Starry Lee acts after Legco president signals that she could, as incumbent chair, take control of House Committee
- The panel’s failure to choose her successor has led to stasis and pro-establishment fury at pan-democrat filibustering
Hong Kong’s Legislative Council will hold an extra meeting on Friday in a bid to clear a backlog of bills waiting on the long-delayed election of a new committee chair, the pro-establishment lawmaker vying for the position has announced.
Monday’s statement of intent by legislator Starry Lee Wai-king, who chaired Legco’s House Committee in 2018-19, came after president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen signalled that she should wrest control of the panel from opposition lawmaker Dennis Kwok, who is accused of deliberately stalling the process.
Leung, a pro-government lawmaker, said the call was based on external legal advice from two senior counsels – even though it contradicted a ruling in October that the chairmanship election should take precedence over other matters.
Since October, the committee – which scrutinises bills and decides when they can be tabled for a final vote – has failed to elect a chair.
In the present situation … [Starry] Lee has the responsibility and the authority to deal with the problems caused by the inordinate delay in the election of the chairman
Leung revealed on Monday he had sought external advice from senior counsels Benjamin Yu and Jenkin Suen, and they were of the view that Lee, as the incumbent chairwoman, had the power to break the deadlock.
Lee also chairs the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the city’s largest pro-Beijing party.
Leung said that, according to the two lawyers, the incumbent chair “should have all the usual powers to conduct the business of the House Committee”.
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He then said Lee, who was seeking re-election against 22 pan-democrats, might call meetings over “urgent business” other than the election.
That was despite Legco’s in-house legal advisers saying in October that “no other business can be transacted” before a new chairperson is in place.
Leung said the previous advice was given “based on the ordinary course of events”, and that the latest advice took into account Kwok’s actions.
“In the present situation … Lee has the responsibility and the authority to deal with the problems caused by the inordinate delay in the election of the chairman,” Leung said.
He did not comment on whether lawmakers should give up on the committee election altogether.
Asked what urgent business Lee might call meetings over, Leung only said there was a legislative backlog in the committee.
“Is that urgent? I think it is up to the members and the public to decide,” he said.
Hours later, Lee announced that she would convene two House Committee meetings on Friday.
A morning session chaired by Kwok would deal with the election, Lee said, adding that she would chair a special meeting in the afternoon to discuss the latest legal advice.
Lee said that, at the end of the afternoon session, she would make a judgment over the latest legal advice, but she did not elaborate.
“Afterward, I will go onto other agenda [items],” she said.
Asked if she was worried that the Friday meeting could be derailed by a conflict between lawmakers – as has happened in other recent showdowns over panel chairs – Lee said: “We hope there will not be any chaos, so there will be time for people to give their views [on the legal advice].”
A 79-page document to lawmakers containing the latest legal advice also says the government may seek to resume the legislative process for the national anthem law and other bills by consulting Lee as the incumbent chair.
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Whether a new law is enacted in full compliance with Legco’s rule book was also “not essential to the validity” of the legislation, the document read.
In their joint legal advice, Yu and Suen also said Kwok had “acted beyond his powers” in presiding over the election.
Speaking before Lee’s announcement, Kwok refused to say how he and his allies would act at the next House Committee meeting.
“If I am to preside over the meeting, I will continue to chair it in accordance with the rules of procedure,” Kwok said, adding that he did not want to see any “ugly scenes”.
He also said Leung’s letter did not amount to a ruling and lawmakers would be unlikely to reach a consensus soon.
In a statement, 42 pro-government lawmakers said they agreed with the latest legal advice.
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