Gary Fan Wins New Territories East Legco Seat

Gary Fan of the Neo-democrats is returning to the Legislative Council after winning the New Territories East by-election, comfortably defeating his main rival, the Federation of Trade Union's Bill Tang, by over 30,000 votes.

Of over 412,000 votes cast, Fan won 44.5 percent, or 183,762 votes, compared to Tang's 152,904 votes.

Fan says his victory demonstrates that voters aren’t happy with the way six pro-democracy lawmakers were disqualified over the past two years for failing to take their oaths properly.

He said the pro-democracy camp's strategy was to "make our voice loud and clear, to send a message to the government. We try to say 'no' to the government's act of [disqualifying] our popularly-elected legislative councillors."

Independent Christine Fong, who came in third with 64,905 votes, told reporters she believes she lost because she didn't have the backing of political parties like the other candidates, and the lack of financial resources had made her campaign more difficult.

Fong, who's run and lost in five Legco elections and by-elections including this one, did not say whether she will run again in future.

______________________________