Hong Kong national security law: Democratic Party members among 10 district councillors challenged over oath validity after latest ceremony

Of the 56 councillors invited to swear allegiance to Hong Kong, 10 are undergoing further questioning, while one has been immediately unseated for refusing to attend

Officials are asking some of those whose oaths are under challenge to explain why they vowed to vote down government’s budget and posted popular protest slogans on social media

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Published: 1:24pm, 24 Sep 2021Updated: 10:44am, 26 Sep 2021

Former Hong Kong lawmaker James To Kun-sun and four colleagues from the Democratic Party, which will decide this weekend whether to boycott December’s Legislative Council poll, were among 10 district councillors whose allegiances to the city were challenged on Friday within hours of taking their oaths.

A total of 56 councillors from Kowloon had been invited to make the vow – required under the national security law – but one, opposition district councillor Lee Man-ho, was immediately unseated after skipping the ceremony.

The councillors on hand, 26 of whom hailed from the opposition camp, pledged to uphold the Basic Law – Hong Kong’s mini-constitution – and bear allegiance to the city.

In a statement issued late on Friday, the Home Affairs Bureau said its chief Caspar Tsui Ying-wai had validated the oaths of 45 councillors, including three from the Democratic Party and 13 others from the opposition bloc.

Officials were contacting the remaining 10 to ask them to elaborate further on their work and past conduct, a process that could lead to their disqualification if their vows were deemed insincere.

Sources have told the Post that some of those had been asked to offer explanations by 5pm on Monday for a range of activities they were said to have engaged in.

For some, that was their use of district offices as polling stations in an unofficial primary in July 2020, which led to 47 opposition figures being charged with subversion.