They pointed to bills piled up since October, while Kwok’s rivals said he had allowed lawmakers from his camp to speak at length to delay the vote on chairmanship in the past 15 meetings.

‘Legco could face legal challenges if it bypasses House Committee election process’

On Monday, Lee, the incumbent chairwoman from the last Legco session, announced she would convene two House Committee meetings on Friday, with the morning session chaired by Kwok to deal with the election, and the afternoon discussion led by herself to resolve “urgent or essential business”.

Lee acted based on external legal opinion obtained by Legco president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, which differed from Legco’s own in-house advice that stated she could not deal with committee matters while standing for re-election.

But Tanya Chan, the convenor of the opposition, accused Lee of a conflict of interest, citing their own legal opinion on Thursday, which was similar to the in-house version.

“While the incumbent chair has the right to run for election again, if she insists on standing for the post and claims she has all the powers of the chair ... the conflict of interest is obvious and it will make a mockery of the relevant rules of procedure and house rules provisions,” Chan said, citing advice from Bar Association chairman Philip Dykes and legal scholar Johannes Chan Man-mun.

Asked if scuffles could erupt on Friday, Chan called on her rivals to respect the original in-house legal advice.

“Without their cooperation, any meeting can be interrupted. It takes two to tango, right? ” she said.

Sources from the opposition said lawmakers might attempt to block Lee from presiding over the meeting, and did not rule out physical confrontations.

More arguments as Legco’s gridlocked House Committee meets

The pro-establishment camp, meanwhile, has formed strategies to counter any possible obstruction to Lee during the meeting in the afternoon, according to veterans from the bloc.

In one of the plans, Lee would proceed with the meeting in another conference room if chaos ensues.

“Staff of the Legco Secretariat and female members of the pro-establishment camp might guard and escort Lee to another room if she is barred from chairing the meeting,” a member said.

Pro-Beijing legislator Ma Fung-kwok said he would cooperate with Lee’s decisions to quell the boiling controversy over her power to handle House Committee matters.

“We’re prepared to resolve the issue in the extended meeting,” he said. “If the fight turns physical, the public will see clearly who is paralysing talks on livelihood issues in Hong Kong.”

Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, lawmaker of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, said their opponents’ latest legal advice would not affect how Lee could exercise her powers to curb filibustering.

“Resolving the deadlock in the committee is something of top urgency, as the national anthem bill has been stalled for so long. [Lee] has the authority to clear obstacles along the way,” she said.

Legco chief moves to wrest control of gridlocked House Committee

The tussle over who presides over Legco meetings is reminiscent of last year’s battle over a committee of the now-withdrawn extradition bill that sparked the months-long unrest. The difference this time is that rival camps are not conducting parallel sessions on their own, but directly locking horns over the role and power of the chairmanship under Lee.