Legco Panel Poll Delay Frustrates Pro-govt Camp

The chairman elections for two Legco panels were delayed again on Friday, much to the frustration of the pro-government side, with Junius Ho warning that the Legco chief would be asked to step in if the voting is not held during the next session.

All panels, except those for welfare services and information technology and broadcasting, chose their heads last week, with the pro-establishment camp aiming for a clean sweep.

Ann Chiang is tipped to win the welfare panel chairmanship, while Junius Ho is expected to grab the IT chairmanship as the pro-government camp holds the majority in Legco.

But pan-democratic lawmakers presiding over the elections at the two panels decided to let candidates explain their platforms and be questioned by their colleagues – just as some Legco panels did last year.

Their rival lawmakers cried foul, with the DAB's Ben Chan saying that the chairman election would not be completed within this year under the arrangement. Lawmakers should stop wasting the time of the legislature and taxpayers money, he said.

Ho, meanwhile, accused rival legislator Charles Mok of conspiring with his allies to filibuster and disrupt meetings as he presided over the election.

The pro-Beijing lawmaker warned that he would ask the Legco President to remove Mok from the position if the situation continued, saying the election process normally just takes 15 minutes to complete.

"In view of how he was just trying to play out and delay the matter, or allow things to be delayed, that's why it resulted in my gentle reminder to him," Ho said.

"I would give him the indulgence of time for another meeting. Prolonging to another, I think that is already too far-fetched," warned Ho.

During the last legislative year, Legco President Andrew Leung had stepped in to remove pro-democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok who had presided over months of paralysis in the council's House Committee, replacing him with pro-government councillor Starry Lee.

But Democrat Andrew Wan said his camp have been dealing with the elections impartially, and it is the pro-government camp who have deviated from normal practice in order to speed up the election process.

"It is unfair to say that we are trying to delay all the panels' work. We just have two panels left, and we need to do the chairman and the vice-chairman election procedure precisely and legally," Wan said.

He noted that over the past four years, some Legco panels did allow candidates to explain their positions before votes were cast. "It seems that the pro-government camp's councillors suddenly forgot what happened in the past four years," he said.

During the panel chairman elections, the pan-democrats nominated each other, and chanted protest slogans when ballots were called.

Meanwhile, the pro-government camp wrote to the Legco Secretary General in advance saying only their chosen candidate would accept a nomination, to prevent their rivals from nominating everyone as part of their delaying tactics.