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Tony Cheung

Owen Fung

When Starry Lee Wai-king took the reins of Hong Kong’s biggest ­pro-Beijing party last year, she indicated she wanted to step down from the Executive Council – but it was a statement that went largely unnoticed in the broader conversation about proposed changes to the city’s political landscape.
When, almost a year later, she finally announced that she had tendered her resignation, it sparked questions on why she was doing it and why now.
Was it because she was abandoning Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s team? Or was she putting some distance between herself and the increasingly ­unpopular Leung? Was it because the Legislative Council elections are only months away and the biggest party in town must start mobilising or risk losing its dominance?
The answer is probably a combination of all these aspects but political commentators believe that two elections were uppermost on her mind: September’s Legco election and the chief executive poll a year from now.
Lee, the 42-year-old chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), yesterday tried to play down her resignation and said she had called it quits “to put focus on dealing with matters in Legco and the party”.
When asked if her decision was related to any desire to run in the chief executive election, Lee dismissed the question, saying: “You are thinking too much.”
However, there is no doubt the Legco election is front and centre in the calculations of both Lee and the DAB. The pro-establishment camp now holds 43 of the 70 ­Legco seats, with the DAB taking up 13. Lee and other DAB leaders have said it will be difficult for the party to retain its seats as some of the old guard retire to make way for a younger generation.
However, in a meeting in Beijing on July 24 last year, Zhang Dejiang, the state leader overseeing Hong Kong affairs, told a DAB delegation he hoped the Beijing-friendly camp would win at least two-thirds, or 47 seats, in the Legco poll.
With the camp’s failure to gain headway in last month’s New Territories East by-election, commentators believe Lee was left with little choice but to leave Exco and focus on a plan for the camp to keep its dominance, if not to accomplish Zhang’s tough mission.
DAB vice-chairman Holden Chow Ho-ding and another pro-establishment candidate, Christine Fong Kwok-shan, mustered just 183,753 votes between them in the February 28 by-election –13,136 fewer than the camp’s score in the 2012 poll.
Ma Ngok, a political scientist at Chinese University, said he believed the reasons for Lee’s move were complex.
“In the New Territories East poll last month, DAB candidate Holden Chow repeatedly avoided saying whether he supported Leung’s re-election,” Ma said. “Quitting Exco would give Lee more time to prepare for the Legco election and even the chief executive election next year, and she will have more freedom to say things that are different from Leung’s official line.”
Exco members must abide by the council’s confidentiality and collective responsibility rules.
“Her replacement Ip Kwok-him had dropped a strong hint that he would not run in September, so appointing him to Exco would do little harm to the DAB’s campaign,” Ma said.
During last year’s meeting with Zhang, the DAB was also urged to back Leung, but veteran China watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu said that since Leung removed Tsang Tak-sing from his post as home affairs secretary on July 21 last year, the relationship between Leung and the Beijing-loyalist camp had soured subtly.
The sudden departure of Tsang – jailed for two years for distributing “inflammatory leaflets” in the 1967 riots – was understood to have alienated many leftists, and it explained recent remarks by several DAB members that the party should consider fielding future chief executive candidates.
During a radio programme on Wednesday, Lee declined to say if she supported Leung’s re-election, and vowed to give priority to a party colleague if anyone was willing to stand in 2017.
She also said popularity and a plan to break the political deadlock in Hong Kong would be the key factors to winning the DAB’s support.
But Lau believed it was unlikely the DAB would field a candidate in 2017.
“Beijing understands this would be unfavourable for the city’s governance as no one from the DAB would be deemed a popular candidate,” Lau said.
Lee had also hinted she would not run, saying that “Hongkongers were not keen on supporting” a candidate with a party political background.
In any event, it would appear Lee’s tasks ahead are daunting enough.
Additional reporting by Jeffie Lam


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In Focus

Starry Lee looks to put DAB in poll position with Executive Council resignation

DAB members (left to right) Ip Kwok-him, Tam Yiu-chung and Starry Lee Wai-king. Photo: Dickson Lee

News

Hong Kong

Politics

The Legco election and the chief executive vote are likely factors behind the DAB chairwoman’s Exco resignation


Starry Lee Wai-king

Starry Lee looks to put DAB in poll position with Executive Council resignation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Legco election and the chief executive vote are likely factors behind the DAB chairwoman’s Exco resignation

The Legco election and the chief executive vote are likely factors behind the DAB chairwoman’s Exco resignation