Vox pop: pros and cons of radical politics and filibustering by legislators dominate Hong Kong by-election debate

The merits and pitfalls of radical politics and filibustering were key deciding factors for many New Territories East voters in choosing front-runners in the Legislative Council by-elections on Sunday.

Voters the Post spoke to were also largely swayed by their opinions on the recent Mong Kok riot, in which one of the dark horses, localist Edward Leung Tin-kei, was a key figure.

“I think he can really help Hong Kong,” said Leung supporter Nicky Wong Ho-yi, a second-year University of Hong Kong medical student. “People think what happened in Mong Kok was a riot but I think Leung helped show the government that Hong Kong people would not just sit quietly and let them bully us.”

As for pan-democrat front-runner Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu of the Civic Party, Wong believed he was “capable”, but “what party he is in defines who he is. He’ll just become the same as they are”.

Clerk Peter Wong, 24, said he voted for Leung because he believed Leung could “bring our voices” into the legislature. “[The older generation] have become unrealistic, while the younger ones can’t even make a living,” he explained outside a polling station in Kwong Fuk.

Civic Party’s Yeung, whose party was quick to condemn the Lunar New Year mayhem in Mong Kok, had the vote of university student Sabrina Tsui Wai-yin.