Hong Kong elections: pro-establishment lawmaker Regina Ip announces bid to run in Legco polls and vows to push for economic, public policy reforms
- The New People’s Party chairwoman will be running for a fourth four-year term in the Hong Kong Island constituency
- She says Hong Kong protests have further exposed the city’s deep-rooted problems that need to be resolved in a ‘rational, pragmatic, and functioning Legco’
Hong Kong pro-establishment lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee has announced her re-election bid, vowing to push for economic and public policy reforms in a “functioning” legislature, as the opposition camp plans to take control of the chamber and vote down government proposals.
The New People’s Party chairwoman will be running for a fourth four-year term in the Hong Kong Island constituency, while former Liberal Party district councillor Dominic Lee Tsz-king, who joined Ip’s party in May, will run in New Territories East.
Eunice Yung Hoi-yan, the party’s vice-chairwoman, won a seat in New Territories East four years ago, but said she would not seek another term after Lee expressed interest in winning the party’s endorsement to run.
The city’s governance, education, and economic structures need to be reformed
In a video message on social media on Friday, Ip – also an Executive Council member and former security minister – said the anti-government protests that erupted in Hong Kong in June last year had further exposed the city’s deep-rooted problems.
“These issues [can be found] in Hong Kong people’s, especially young people’s, national identity and our economy,” she said.
“These problems need to be solved in a rational, pragmatic and functioning Legco.”
Ip added that while the city’s legislature had become more and more chaotic since she was first elected in 2008, she wanted to win another term and push for better public policies.