Starry Lee Refuses To Rush No-confidence Vote

House Committee chairwoman Starry Lee on Friday refused to urgently handle a motion of no confidence against Legco's secretary general Kenneth Chen, saying she wants to seek legal advice on the matter.

The pro-democracy camp accuse Chen of breaching political neutrality rules by trying to help pro-government legislators wrest control of a bills committee vetting controversial extradition laws.

But to the fury of the pan-dems, Lee refused to deal with the motion this week, saying she wants to exercise caution and take legal advice first. She also said that her decision complies with Legco rules.

Furious pro-democracy councillors then accused Lee of "harbouring" Chen, noting that the DAB chairwoman didn't even need to seek a legal opinion when a motion of no confidence was moved against her personally.

The secretariat's impartiality was called into question over the weekend, when it issued a circular asking lawmakers to vote in writing on whether they wanted to replace the host of the bills committee, Democrat James To, with pro-Beijing councillor Abraham Shek.

The pro-democracy camp noted that Legco rules state that a committee chairman can issue such circulars, and any motion in writing cannot be passed unless it is unanimously supported.

Shek was duly chosen to replace To, by 36 votes to 24, although the pan-dems insisted To was still the rightful presiding councillor and went on to elect him as chairman at a meeting that their rivals say was illegitimate.