Councillors Told Reasons For Disqualification: Govt

Home Affairs Secretary Caspar Tsui says the government has clearly explained to seven disqualified district councillors the reasons why their oaths of office were ruled invalid.

Clarisse Yeung, Leung Pak-kin, Wei Siu-lik, So Yat-hang, Chan Wing-tai, Lai Tsz-yan and Michael Pang were stripped of their council seats on Wednesday, five days after they pledged allegiance to the SAR at a ceremony for Hong Kong Island councillors.

Tsui dismissed suggestions that the ousted councillors were left in the dark about why their oaths were rejected, saying they had received letters clearly stating the reasons.

But he said he could not comment on any individual case.

In announcing the disqualifications, the government said only that Tsui had questions about the validity of the councillors' oaths and after letters were exchanged with them on the matter, he determined the pledges were not valid.