Hong Kong’s “patriots only” legislature has left a “shining record,” its outgoing president has said, as he concluded the last meeting of the current legislative term.
Andrew Leung, who entered the Legislative Council (LegCo) as a lawmaker in 2004 and became its president in 2016, lauded the performance of his fellow legislators on Thursday, following a debate on the legislative term’s last motion about “promoting rural tourism.”
“I dare not say that the performance of this LegCo [term] is perfect, but I dare say that all the lawmakers gave their all over the past four years,” Leung said in Cantonese.
The current LegCo left a “shining record that can be seen by everybody,” he said, adding that it had completed “old, critical, and difficult” tasks that previous terms were unable to tackle.
That included the passage of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – known locally as Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution – in March last year, Leung said.
Leung also said the current LegCo term had returned to “pragmatism and cooperation,” after previous terms were plagued by the opposition’s filibustering tactics.
Leung, 74, said last month that he would not seek another term in the legislative race in December, citing his age. He was the first lawmaker in the current term to make such an announcement.
Since then, 22 other lawmakers have also indicated that they would opt out of December’s race, with So Cheung-wing, 65, being the latest one as he announced his decision on Thursday.
Major parties unveil candidates
Separately, two major pro-establishment parties unveiled their candidates for December’s race on Thursday.
The pro-business Liberal Party said it would field five candidates, including party chair Peter Shiu and vice-chair Michael Lee, both of whom are current lawmakers seeking re-election.
The party’s former chairperson Tommy Cheung, 76, previously said he would not run for another term. He has been a lawmaker for the past 25 years. Frankie Yick, 72, who represents the transport sector in LegCo, also said he would not run in December.
The Liberal Party will field three district councillors, Kenny Yuen, Jeremy Young, and Jonathan Leung, in December’s race.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions said all nine of its incumbent lawmakers would seek re-election. It will also send seven members to run in the race.
Two of the current lawmakers, Kwok Wai-keung and Luk Chung-hung, will switch track and contest in the directly elected geographical constituencies, after running in the election committee election four years ago.
Kwok will run in the Hong Kong Island West constituency while Luk will vie for a seat in the New Territories North West constituency.
The LegCo elections will be held on December 7.
Among its 90 seats, 20 will be returned from the directly elected geographical constituencies; 30 from special interest groups known as functional constituencies, and 40 from a powerful election committee, which is also responsible for choosing Hong Kong’s leader.
The nomination period begins on Friday and will end on November 6.
