When the High Court this month ruled that Agnes Chow had been incorrectly disqualified from running for LegCo, the man who stepped into the vacuum and won the by-election, pro-democracy lawmaker Au Nok-hin, said he had “no regrets at all” about the decision.
It would appear, however, he’s not quite ready to give up his seat for it, announcing this morning that he now intends to appeal the ruling.
Speaking to reporters outside the Court of Final Appeal, Au Nok-hin said his decision was not politically motivated, but that he and his legal team felt it was fundamentally unfair that he and those who voted for him bear the responsibility of the “government’s administrative mistake when screening election hopefuls.”
“[An] election presents a valuable right, and it’s critical to ensure that those elected are truly representative of those who are entitled to vote for them,” he said. “The courts should therefore exercise this question to refuse to grant relief to the petitioner so as to preserve the voters’ genuine voice.”
Au said that while he was appealing, he still believed the original decision to bar Chow from running was “unjust.”
“We all accept that it is an injustice for the election officer to ban a candidate with political censorship,” he said, “But we think that the court should have a better standard, or clearer standard, to say in what situation should the seat be vacant.”
Au said he’s not sure whether or not the government also plans to appeal the High Court decision.
The High Court ruled on Sept. 2 that a decision by an election official to bar Chow from running in the election — based on the assumption that Chow’s advocacy for Hong Kong self-determination made it impossible for her to uphold the city’s Basic Law — was inappropriate, and that Chow should have been given an opportunity to defend herself.
Au stood in for Chow as the pro-democracy camp’s plan B candidate in the by-election and went on to win.
The High Court’s ruling this month meant that the results of the by-election won by Au were nullified. His decision to appeal, however, effectively means that Au can keep his seat in LegCo for the time being, at least until the CFA decides on his appeal.
Less than two weeks after the Chow decision, the same judge referenced it in ruling that pro-democracy activist called Ventus Lau had also been improperly barred from running in another by-election that same year.
In that instance, pro-democracy candidate Gary Fan stepped forward and won the open seat. No word yet on whether he intends to appeal as well.
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