Lawmaker Priscilla Leung Announces Re-election Bid

Business and Professionals Alliance lawmaker Priscilla Leung warned that pro-establishment forces shouldn’t be overly optimistic about winning three out of six Legco seats up for grabs in her district, as she announced her bid to seek re-election in the Kowloon West geographical constituency.

The camp now holds four of the seats after winning two by-elections in the last four years.

Leung, who has been a legislator since 2008, also said her experience puts ahead of other pro-government election hopefuls, particularly in navigating Legco rules to clamp down on protest actions taken by opposition lawmakers in the council.

Asked by reporters why voters would choose her instead of two other pro-establishment incumbents who’ve also announced their intention to run, Leung compared herself favourably to the DAB’s Vincent Cheng, and independent Yan Chan.

“In running, I deeply thought about what kind of lawmaker does the legislature need. We must have someone to dissect problems.....I am more experienced in this regard," Leung said.

The opposition camp is expected to field a list of mostly young activists, including the League of Social Democrats’ Jimmy Sham, independent Sunny Cheung, Kalvin Ho of the Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood, Frankie Fung, and incumbent Claudia Mo of Hong Kong First.

They had come out on top of the a primary poll that has been condemned by Beijing as ‘illegal’ and foreign-funded, as the opposition camp eyes winning an outright majority in September’s elections so they can win veto power and exert maximum pressure on the government by voting down important bills like its budget.

Leung warned that the opposition camp would violate the Basic Law if they carry through with their threat to reject all government proposals by paralysing the operation of the council.

Leung, also a member of the Basic Law Committee, said there would be ‘countermeasures’ taken if any of Hong Kong’s three arms of government – the executive, legislative, and judicial branches – are ‘hijacked and paralysed’.