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Hong Kong politics
Hong KongPolitics

17 opposition Hong Kong district councillors have oaths of allegiance challenged; 20 more disqualified

  • A total of 39 opposition councillors have been ousted since the new oath-taking ceremonies began
  • Like those disqualified before them, the councillors challenged on Friday were hit with questions about their past acts and political stances

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The fourth and final batch of district councillors showed up to take their oaths of allegiance on Friday. Photo: Dickson Lee
Chris Lau
Seventeen more opposition district councillors had their allegiance to the city challenged by the authorities following an oath-taking ceremony on Friday, with another four automatically unseated for refusing to turn up.

The latest challenges came just hours after 16 other opposition councillors were disqualified over similar objections lodged following an oath-taking ceremony earlier this week.

Friday’s developments brought the total number of opposition district councillors unseated since the oath-taking ceremonies began to 39.

Among the 17 facing further enquiries from the Home Affairs Bureau is former Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong Chun-yu. The future of his party – the opposition camp’s largest – has been uncertain of late given internal disagreements about whether to field candidates in December’s Legislative Council poll, the first popular election since Beijing’s political overhaul designed to ensure only “patriots” can stand for office.
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Another Democrat, Lam Siu-fai, was among the 13 opposition and independent councillors whose oaths were validated on Friday, but several other party members have already been ousted in previous rounds.

A total of 75 district councillors from the New Territories West – made up of Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Kwai Tsing and outlying islands – were invited to take part in the oath-taking ceremony on Friday, according to a spokesman from the Home Affairs Bureau. Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, the bureau’s secretary, administered the oath.

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The oath-taking requirement previously applied only to the most senior officials, lawmakers and judges, but was expanded earlier this year to rank-and-file public servants and district councillors as part of the implementation of the Beijing-imposed national security law and its “patriots” principle.
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