Bitter internal row brewing within Hong Kong’s Democratic Party over whether to contest Legislative Council elections

Vocal minority faction argues city’s largest opposition party should contest polls, despite rules being rewritten by Beijing

Others say standing in elections would reduce party to mere ‘political window dressing’

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Democratic Party leaders, including Lam Cheuk-ting (second left) and Andrew Wan (second right), are embroiled in an internal row with another faction of the party. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 9:00pm, 10 Aug 2021Updated: 2:06pm, 8 Sep 2021

A bitter internal row is brewing within Hong Kong’s biggest opposition party, with members split on whether to contest coming Legislative Council elections after the rules of the game were drastically rewritten by Beijing.

The tensions – which had existed within the Democratic Party for months – have been mounting since the abrupt departure of vice-chairman Lee Wing-tat, who left the city for London for unspecified reasons last Friday.

In an outward sign of the infighting, former Democratic Party lawmaker Andrew Wan Siu-kin – who is currently behind bars awaiting trial on national security charges – appeared to lash out on social media at a younger colleague who had publicly questioned Lee’s integrity.

Ex-lawmaker Andrew Wan is facing charges over his role in an unofficial opposition primary last year. Photo: Winson Wong

Despite not naming anyone in the post, Wan appeared to be referring to Eastern district councillor So Yat-hang, who had mocked Lee for “asking people to fight on while fleeing himself”. So’s post was later shared by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, who is known for his combative attitude towards the opposition.

Delivering his message through a friend who visited him in jail, Wan accused So of being a flip-flopping opportunist, saying if his stance against the authorities was that tough, he should not have advocated running in the revamped elections, which would render the party mere “political window dressing”.

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