DAB hopes for District Council elections as planned despite threats|Hong Kong|chinadaily.com.cn

Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan – vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and a candidate in the upcoming District Council elections – hopes that polling will take place on Nov 24 as scheduled despite the violent protests.

The DAB, Hong Kong’s largest political party, has 117 incumbent district councilors and fielded 179 candidates this year. As the city remains embroiled in political tensions after rampant violence broke out five months ago, Cheung said it will be “very good” if the party can retain the same number of seats.

In his view, the elections are very complicated. Parties in the opposition camp who are fielding candidates hope the elections will go on because they think they can win many seats. However, Cheung said, the violent ones are not contesting and they only want to spoil the process, but the “pan-democrats” are unwilling to disassociate themselves from violent, radical people, although they do not necessarily share the exact same thinking.

In an interview with China Daily, Cheung, who is standing for re-election in the Sheung Wan constituency on Hong Kong Island, said the DAB and other pro-establishment candidates are at a disadvantage because many of their offices have been vandalized by the violent, lawless protesters. The DAB candidates not only have had no places to work, but have also been harassed while campaigning on the streets and communicating with residents.

Incessant threats

The DAB candidates are afraid to campaign at night and think it is safer to conduct street campaigns during daytime, he said.

“We have never seen such a bad situation since we first took part in elections in the 1990s,” Cheung said. “We worry very much that chaos and traffic disruptions will occur on polling day. We fear the protesters will attack the polling stations and invalidate the voting results. For example, they may target pro-establishment candidates who stand greater chances of winning and other candidates who aim to contest ‘super seats’ in next year’s Legislative Council election.

“We have expressed our worries to the government. The government should devise multiple contingency plans ahead of the polling day and not start thinking about what to do only when problems arise.”

Cheung hopes the District Council elections will go ahead as planned. Under Hong Kong law, the government can delay the elections by two weeks. If longer delays are needed, the government needs to submit a bill to LegCo for approval.

“For our candidates, they have been working very hard in their constituencies in the past few years. Some even gave up their full-time jobs to serve the local communities. If the elections are canceled, they will feel very disappointed,” he said.

“To me, a delay of two weeks is meaningless, because it is doubtful if social atmosphere will improve after two weeks, while the voters will become very perplexed by the delay.”

Cheung will face two opponents in the election – Pang Ka-ho and Wong Mei-hing. Pang is a university student who was recently pictured with a US consular officer and other student activists in a hotel lobby.

District Council constituencies are usually very small, so district councilors maintain close relations with the residents, who usually judge the candidates by their services to the community, Cheung said.

“Yet it may be very different this time, as many people who are unhappy with the government and police as a result of the extradition bill will come out to vote to vent their emotions. Similarly, people with strong ideological ideas who did not vote in the past may cast their votes this time.

“As for my chances, it is 50-50 in this kind of political atmosphere. For our party, we have 117 district councilors, and it will be very good if we can keep our supporters and maintain the same number of seats.”

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 11/13/2019 page4)