A pro-democracy candidate who was defeated in a critical by-election last weekend has urged Hong Kong’s pro-democrats and localists to work together in future elections.
Lee Cheuk-yan, a veteran Labour Party politician and former lawmaker stood in Kowloon West by-election, but lost to pro-establishment candidate Rebecca Chan by more than 13,000 votes.
Lee won just over 93,000 votes while Chan won over 106,000.
The results prompted the pro-democracy side to hold a press conference at the Legislative Council, apologizing to supporters for failing to win back the seat, which was vacated after six lawmakers were booted out of the legislature for improper oath-taking.
In an interview with Ming Pao, Lee said young voters, especially localists, may feel unrepresented and not motivated to vote, adding that since a number of people were disqualified from running in elections, many feel that there isn’t anyone who can represent them.
He said that the solution is that democrats need to find a way to communicate with these voters, saying he believes democrats and localists have a common language.
Even if both sides have different ideas and visions for Hong Kong, they need to find a common ground rather than focus on what makes them different, he said.
Lee also said that instead of pan-democrats finding candidates to represent localist voters, localists should find candidates to enter next year’s citywide district council elections.
The interview also comes after Lee appeared on an RTHK radio programme yesterday with another defeated by-election candidate Frederick Fung.
Like Lee, Fung is also veteran democrat and former lawmaker who was ousted from the legislature during the 2016 LegCo elections.
His candidacy for last weekend’s by-election drew criticisms of vote splitting from the pro-democracy camp, a criticism that he has rejected. He won just over 12,000 votes in the end.
In what looked like a noticeably frosty exchange, the pair were asked how would they describe their relationship with each other and whether they see themselves as allies.
Lee said he hadn’t given any thought to the question, while Fung responded “I think anyone who fights for democracy and opposes authoritarianism is my ally.”
Although Fung acknowledged that Lee was not an ally during the by-election, he added: “I have no grudge against him.”
When the host asks Lee if he had anything else to add, Lee simply said: “I have no comment.”
Lee was the candidate endorsed by the pro-democracy camp for the by-election. He declared his candidacy after Lau Siu-lai, one of lawmakers who was booted out of the Legislative Council for improper oath-taking, was barred from trying to win back her seat because she had previously declared support for self-determination for Hong Kong.
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