New Hong Kong lawmakers representing former opposition strongholds vow to hear needs of residents, work for all constituents
- Lawmakers for social welfare, education and health services sectors say they will continue to reach out to the community, work to advance interests of their respective industries
- They say their mandate should be recognised as long as the election was held in a lawful and fair manner, even if the turnout was relatively low
Hong Kong’s new lawmakers representing the opposition camp’s former professional strongholds have pledged to listen to and work for all constituents, regardless of their political stance.
They also said their mandate for representing the city’s various professions and industries should be respected despite Sunday’s relatively low turnout, given the Legislative Council election was held lawfully and in a fair manner.
“I have won a seat at least. Residents still hope that there are legislators to monitor the government. We will continue to reach out to the community,” said Tik Chi-yuen, chairman of the middle-of-the-road party Third Side.
Tik, 64, became the only non-establishment survivor after beating his rivals in the social welfare functional constituency.
Hong Kong’s already dominant pro-establishment camp swept all but one seat in the first Legco election after Beijing’s overhaul of the political system amid record low turnout of only 30.2 per cent.
Under the Beijing-decreed shake-up to ensure only “patriots” hold political power, the number of directly elected lawmakers returned in the geographical constituencies was slashed from 35 to 20. The legislature was expanded from 70 to 90 seats, with the lion’s share of 40 seats going to the Election Committee constituency and the remaining 30 to the functional constituencies.
Social welfare, education, accountancy, legal and health services were previously regarded as strongholds of the opposition camp, while the medical sector was long occupied by non-establishment independents.
