Hong Kong opposition parties warned weekend primary could break national security and election laws
- Constitutional affairs minister Erick Tsang says some residents raised concerns ahead of Legislative Council elections in September
- But organiser Benny Tai rejects suggestion and says there will be no talk of secession by candidates
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai made the comments three days before the bloc’s polls, aimed at narrowing down its field of candidates for the city’s Legislative Council race in September.
Optimistic after a landslide victory in November’s district council elections, about 250 polling stations would be set up by coordinating group Power for Democracy on roadsides, at district councillors’ offices, and in so-called yellow shops, those publicly identifying with the protest movement.
The stalls will be spread across the city’s five geographical constituencies.
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What you should know about China's new national security law for Hong Kong
In an interview published by several pro-Beijing newspapers on Thursday, Tsang said authorities had been investigating complaints about the legality of the primary.
He warned that the vows made by all candidates in the primary could be in breach of the new national security law in place for more than a week. These pledges include voting down the government’s budget and paralysing the city’s administration if the opposition camp wins a historic majority in the legislature.
“Under Article 22 of the law, it is wrong to seriously interfere, disrupt or undermine the performance of duties and functions by the central or local governments,” Tsang said. “But whether it would constitute a crime would depend on many factors, such as the evidence gathered and the actual situation.”
Hong Kong national security law official English version:
Without elaborating, the minister also said the primary could break Articles 20 and 29 of the new law, which prohibit acts of secession and collusion with external forces to endanger national security.
Benny Tai Yiu-ting, co-organiser of the event and an associate law professor at the University of Hong Kong, dismissed Tsang’s comments in a press conference on Thursday.
“We don’t see any issues that could be unlawful,” he said. “The objective of the ‘35-plus’ is to win the majority in Legco, so that we can exercise power authorised by the Basic Law to hold the Hong Kong government accountable, and that power includes vetoing the budget.”
Article 22 of the national security law states that people would be guilty of subversion if they organise or take part in acts involving force or unlawful means.
Tai also said the primary would not involve calls for Hong Kong to be separated from China, and the money used was from local crowdfunding, not from external organisations.
Former Law Society president Stephen Hung Wan-shun, a criminal lawyer, said if prosecutors pursued the criminal liabilities of candidates, they must prove that their goal of vetoing the budget was a “last preparatory act” leading to the crime of threatening national security.
“Criminal proceedings require a high burden of proof. At this moment, candidates themselves are not sure if they can get hold of the majority, and too many uncertainties lie ahead,” he said.
But Basic Law Committee member Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, also a barrister and a pro-establishment lawmaker, believed the opposition’s “35-plus” campaign itself could be deemed illegal under the new law.
“Voting down the budget is not a problem. But any campaign with an aim of paralysing Hong Kong could be illegal as it might lead to a constitutional crisis,” she said.
Tsang also said some complaints centred on whether the opposition’s primary amounted to rigging the September polls. He cited the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, pointing out that any act could be considered illegal if anyone “other than candidates and election expense agents” incurred election costs.
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Tai had earlier said: “The primary is only for residents to express which teams they would support in representing the camp at the official polls ... No one can manipulate so many people in making a decision.”
Democratic Party’s Lam Cheuk-ting, one of the candidates for New Territory East, said the “scare tactics” by authorities would not work on voters and candidates of the camp, and they were just aiming to coordinate themselves ahead of the Legco elections.
On Saturday and Sunday, voters will have to scan a QR code and fill in personal details before casting their ballots at polling stations.
Tai also dismissed Tsang’s claims that organisers had a master list of voter information from which to verify people, saying that participants would provide their own proof of residency or electoral register identification before casting their ballots.
In a statement on Thursday, Privacy Commissioner Stephen Wong Kai-yi said organisers must remind participants during the data collection process of the legality of “voting down a bill in Legco”.
“All illegal or misleading purposes may constitute an unfair collection of personal data and violate the [privacy ordinance],” Wong said.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Research Association, a pro-Beijing group, said they interviewed about 1,100 residents from July 2 to July 5, and found 66 per cent of respondents were supportive or very supportive of the national security law.
That was 9 percentage points higher than the association’s previous opinion poll last month.
