DAB Member Loses District Election Challenge

The High Court on Thursday quashed a DAB member's challenge to the result of the District Council election in 2019, ruling that his pro-democracy opponent was duly elected.

Koo Yeung-pong of the DAB, who lost in a Tsuen Wan constituency, said in an election petition that Chan Kim-kam had made misleading statements by stating that "the extremely lazy, negligent and irresponsible one shall leave his seat" in her promotional leaflet.

But Judge Anderson Chow ruled that such statements did not target Koo personally, and it's reasonable to interpret Chan's message to mean that district councillors should not be lazy, negligent or be afraid to speak out on behalf of the public.

The judge added that Koo failed to prove that it was misleading for Chan to claim that almost all of the HK$18 million funding allocated by the Tsuen Wan district council was given to pro-government community organisations for holding "bread and circuses activities".

Koo claimed during his term as district councillor in the constituency from 2016 to 2019, the district council never allocated any funding for “food or beverages in any activity hosted by the DAB”.

But Chow said even if that were true, it does not follow that the statement was false or misleading, because it stated that HK$18 million was given to pro-government bodies in the district, not just the DAB.

Koo has also been ordered to pay the legal costs of the case.