LegCo cleared of pan-democrats

By Aiden Lau

On Wednesday, the 11th of November, the National People’s Congress, the highest Chinese legislative organ, ruled that four Pan-democratic lawmakers were disqualified from the Legislative Council (LegCo). This was in response to the Hong Kong Government requesting interpretation and ruling as to whether or not the four, Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki, Dennis Kwok, and Kenneth Leung, should be allowed to remain in the extended LegCo session.

The current LegCo session was extended for one year after the election, due on the 9th of September 2020, was postponed for one year, allegedly because of the pandemic. The four Pan-democrats, however, were disqualified from re-election as returning officers believed they would not uphold the Basic Law.

The 15 remaining Pan-democratic lawmakers, whittled down from the 29 elected initially (with 56% of the popular vote), then made good on their ultimatum to resign en masse should their four colleagues be removed from office.

This shocking turn of events will mean that the Pro-Beijing camp has total control of Hong Kong’s parliament, potentially approving new laws without impasse. What this means for Hong Kong’s democracy movement is unknown; but the outlook seems grim. Beijing appears to have full control over Hong Kong now.

*Members of the Special Tactical Squad, more infamously known as the “Raptors”, prepare to cordon off a protest (Photo by Aiden Lau)*

The respective governments of Hong Kong and China now have all the tools necessary to prosecute political dissidents. Since China gave us the National Security Law as Hong Kong's “Birthday gift” the police have issued letters of objection against all protest-related organisers. And now a large percentage of Hong Kong’s people have no legislative representation from the people (or frankly, political group) that they voted for.

The expulsions sparked international condemnation across the western world, with the European Union saying that “This latest arbitrary decision from Beijing further significantly undermines Hong Kong’s autonomy under the “One Country, Two Systems’ principle.” Separately, the intelligence services alliance Five Eyes (comprising the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) called on China to reverse the decision to expel the four lawmakers.

Hong Kong has recently suffered a series of crackdowns on the democracy movement, aimed at snuffing it out. Nevertheless, a small win for the democracy movement has come through the High Court's ruling Thursday, November 19, that police officers not displaying their ID’s have violated the Bill of Rights.

How the remaining Legislative Councilors intend to govern will be closely watched, although it seems doubtful that the loss of opposition members will help Hong Kong become less polarised in the short term.