Lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung said he is considering joining the chief executive race and notified the pro-democracy camp at a weekly meeting on Friday.
He said a prerequisite for his run would be obtaining 30,000 signatures from the general public – representing 1 per cent of the voter population. This would be instead of asking for nominations from the 325 pro-democracy camp chief executive election committee members directly. However, to be approved as a candidate, 150 committee members must then nominate him to run.
The move came after Leung suggested that the pro-democracy camp should field a candidate in the leadership race in order to create debate, and then cast protest votes on election day on March 26.
He said on Friday that the pro-democracy camp should not vote for Chief Secretary Carrie Lam or Financial Secretary John Tsang, since both of them supported Beijing’s political reform framework set for Hong Kong, legislation for a sedition law, and the disqualification of lawmakers through legal means.
He added that lawmaker Regina Ip and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, who have both stated their intention to run, have vague positions over the three key issues.
Leung is one of four lawmakers who received new legal challenge from the government to disqualify them. But he stated that it may not need to be him who actually runs in the election.
“I said [during the weekly meeting] that you don’t necessarily have to support me. I am going for civil nomination, so it does not matter whether they support me,” he told Stand News. He added that he welcomed opposing opinions.
Leung said he was not very passionate about running, and that if another pro-democracy camp figure ran for the chief executive position, he would not run.
“It is just about having a representative to come out and speak [for people],” he said.
He also said he may urge electors to cast blank votes on election day should he be nominated to run, but electors could also choose to vote for the candidate with the best election platform, though they should not vote for pro-Beijing camp candidates.
