Pan-dems Resign, Leaving Legco To Their Rivals

The 15 remaining pan-democratic members of Legco have announced they are resigning, making good on their pledge to quit the legislature if Beijing ousted any members of their camp.

The move came just hours after the SAR government announced the immediate disqualification of the Civic Party's Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki and Dennis Kwok, as well as Kenneth Leung from the Professional Commons.

"Hong Kong add oil! Together we stand!" the outgoing lawmakers chanted at a press conference to confirm their decision. They said they would hand in their resignation letters on Thursday.

The camp's convenor Wu Chi-wai said the disqualifications were "extremely ridiculous".

He added that the central government had completely given up the Basic Law and One Country, Two Systems, and had "fundamentally destroyed" Hong Kong's separation of powers.

Of the non-establishment members in the council, only Civic Passion's Cheng Chung-tai and medical sector lawmaker Pierre Chan will remain, meaning the mass resignations hand the pro-government camp pretty much free rein of the council.

Earlier in the day, both Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Legco president Andrew Leung dismissed the suggestion that Legco will now become nothing more than a "rubber stamp".

“I clearly will say that it is unfair to the pro-establishment members that once the 19 members left the Legislative Council then they will become a rubber stamp of the Hong Kong SAR government. That certainly would not happen,” Lam said.

But a member of the pro-government camp, the Liberal Party's Felix Chung, had warned that it will not be healthy for there to be no opposition in the legislature.

"Everywhere in the world the government always has opposition voices. If they all leave, I don't know what will happen to Hong Kong," he had told RTHK on Wednesday morning.

In recent weeks, many pro-establishment councillors had demanded the authorities take action to force some of their rivals out of Legco due to filibustering. Some called for disqualifications, while others urged the police to investigate whether the pan-dems were breaking the national security law by slowing down meetings.

The four disqualifications were confirmed around lunchtime on Wednesday, shortly after the National People's Congress Standing Committee announced a list of reasons why a lawmaker should be stripped of their seats, including asking external forces to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs or refusing to accept China's sovereignty over the territory.