Lawmaker Gary Fan To File Appeal Against Unseating

Neo Democrats lawmaker Gary Fan said he will on Friday appeal against a High Court ruling that declared his election invalid.

The court decided last month that a returning officer had wrongly banned localist Ventus Lau from running in the New Territories East by-election in 2018, as she did not give him an opportunity to respond to her contention that he supported Hong Kong independence, and would therefore fail to uphold the Basic Law.

The judge ruled that this failure amounted to a material irregularity and therefore Fan was not duly elected as a lawmaker.

Speaking to reporters before formally filing his appeal, Fan said it is unfair that he, and the people who voted for him, were forced to bear the consequences of an administrative mistake made by the returning officer.

“The crux of my appeal is, even though Mr Lau [was] successful in his election petition, it does not necessary follow that I myself was not duly elected, because Hong Kong permanent residents have the right to vote and the right to stand for election according to article 26 of the Basic Law and article 21 of the Bill of Rights,” Fan said.

“Election represents a very important and valuable right”, he added. “Those elected are truly representative of those who are entitled to vote for them.”

Fan’s appeal follows in the heels of a similar move by legislator Au Nok-hin, whose by-election win was also declared void after Demosisto’s Agnes Chow successfully challenged her disqualification from the poll.

Au filed his appeal last month, on similar legal grounds.