Civic Party wins New Territories East by-election, but Edward Leung comes a respectable third
Leung, an independence advocate, won about 15.4 per cent of the vote
Civic Party barrister Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu won a crucial by-election on Sunday to maintain the pan-democrats’ power to block unpopular bills in the legislature. But it was localist Edward Leung Tin-kei’s feat of scoring a sizeable vote share that looks set to steer Hong Kong politics into uncharted territory.
Leung, an independence advocate, won 66,524 of 432,581 valid votes – about 15.4 per cent – in New Territories East. In his debut campaign, he came third after Holden Chow Ho-ding of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and well ahead of veteran politician Nelson Wong Sing-chi and district councillor Christine Fong Kwok-shan.
“The result has shown that there is a considerable amount of Hongkongers supporting our political philosophy ... and also our means of protest,” said Leung, of Hong Kong Indigenous, which was allegedly behind the Mong Kok riot in early February.
The 24-year-old undergraduate said his vote share signalled the arrival of a third force in the city’s politics, now no longer of the traditional pan-democratic versus pro-Beijing binary.
“The localists will get ready for the September election, and I think from then on, the three blocs – pan-democrats, localists and pro-establishment – should stand neck to neck,” he said.
