Court Rejects Bid To Challenge Au Nok-hin Election

The High Court has rejected a bid for a judicial review seeking to unseat newly elected pro-democracy lawmaker Au Nok-hin, saying the application was "thoroughly ill-conceived" as the applicant had used the wrong means to make the challenge.

Wong Tai-hoi, the secretary general of the Taxi Drivers and Operators Association, had said in his application that Au had burned a mock-up of the Basic Law and claimed he might do this again.

Wong argued that this shows the new councillor does not uphold the mini-constitution, and the election officer who vetted Au’s nomination for the recent Hong Kong Island Legco by-election should have rejected his candidacy.

But Justice Anderson Chow said such challenges should be filed by at least 10 people, or another candidate in the same election, by way of an election petition instead of a judicial review.

The judge said that if he allowed a judicial review to go ahead, it would be equivalent to circumventing the statutory requirement for an election petition.

Wong's lawyer had also argued that the returning officer did not have the power to accept the validity of Au's nomination as a candidate, but the judge said this was not arguable either.

The judge made clear, however, that he had not reached any conclusion as to whether Au's nomination was valid, or whether there are sufficient reasons to question his qualification as a legislator, because they are irrelevant to this ruling.

Wong, who was assisted with the legal action by pro-Beijing unionist Wong Kwok-hing, was ordered to pay the legal costs for Au and the election officer involved.