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Disqualification of Hong Kong lawmakers riles Cardinal Zen

Second batch of pro-democratic lawmakers disqualified because of invalid oath-taking
Disqualification of Hong Kong lawmakers riles Cardinal Zen

Nathan Law (left) calling for support during the '7.1' annual protest rally on July 1. Law has been disqualified over making an 'invalid oath.' (ucanews.com photo)

Published: July 24, 2017 08:53 AM GMT
Updated: July 24, 2017 09:04 AM GMT

Retired Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong has criticized a court decision that disqualifies four more elected pro-democratic lawmakers on the basis that their oaths were invalid.

Pro-democracy lawmakers Edward Yiu, Nathan Law, Leung Kwok-Hung and Lau Siu-lai were disqualified by the Hong Kong High Court on July 14 over how they took their oaths of office last October.

"How can this ridiculous thing happen in Hong Kong?" Cardinal Zen wrote on his blog on July 18. "Why didn't the public come out to make a stronger objection?" he asked.

Though the cardinal agreed that the lawmakers "did something unwise" by how they said the oath or by changing the wording of it, "the court invalidated 127,000 votes [the sum of votes the four disqualified lawmakers got in the election] from the voters is evil and overbearing beyond imagination! In other countries, it would induce large-scale riots," Cardinal Zen said.

"The behavior of the government makes people lose confidence in judicial independence," the cardinal said.

He called on law professionals to come out and save the rule of law in Hong Kong.

 

Recently disqualified lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung (left), and pro-democratic lawmaker Chu Hoi-dick (right) call on people to support them during a protest rally on July 1. (ucanew.com photo)

 

Disqualification becomes a tool

This is the second batch of pro-democratic lawmakers to be disqualified by the court due to invalid oath-taking.

Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching of Youngspiration, a new political party advocating for Hong Kong independence, were disqualified last November for distorting their oath of office.

Though Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the new chief executive of Hong Kong, has claimed the government has no intention to challenge more lawmakers in court, a local citizen has filed for a judicial review on the validity of the oath-taking of Cheng Chung-tai and Chu Hoi-dick, both pro-democratic lawmakers. The court will handle their case on July 26.

Meanwhile, another citizen has challenged two pro-government lawmakers for falsifying information about their educational background so they could run in the election.

Lina Chan, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong Diocese, thinks the credibility of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and the election has diminished with the disqualification of more elected lawmakers.

"More than 100,000 votes have been invalidated. The government is using the judicial system to disqualify lawmakers to fulfill its political purpose. The election is being trampled on," she told ucanew.com.

With fewer lawmakers, Chan is worried that the pro-democratic camp has lost its veto power in the LegCo and further diminishes the ability of the LegCo to check the government’s power.

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