Hong Kong democrats’ flip-flop on political reform raises questions about their integrity

The pan-democrats have set two preconditions in response to Hong Kong chief executive-elect Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s call for reconciliation: restart political reform, and repeal the National People’s Congress’ 2014 decision setting limits on the city’s electoral progress. Without this, they say, reconciliation is impossible.

During the chief executive election campaign, the pan-democrats supported John Tsang Chun-wah even though he did not promise to overturn the NPC decision. In fact, Tsang went further: he said he would initiate Article 23 legislation if elected, though not during his first term.

Despite this, the pan-democrats supported Tsang, arguing that their prime goal was to stop Lam – who they deride as “C.Y. 2.0” – from being elected. Never mind fighting the NPC ruling, they said, the more important goal was to prevent the election of someone who would be as dictatorial as the incumbent, Leung Chun-ying.