The opposition lawmakers who opted to remain in Hong Kong’s legislature until the postponed election can be held in 2021 were criticized on Thursday for resuming their filibustering tactics in the first week of the new legislative year.
They were also urged to perform their duties to ensure the normal operation of the Legislative Council, and to help Hong Kong recover from its economic recession.
In their latest filibustering attempt on Thursday morning, opposition lawmakers postponed the voting process during the third reading of the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. Five times within three hours, they demanded the council votes be recounted, and they repeated their arguments, which exceeded their allowed time limits.
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A local resident surnamed Hui said he was “extremely disappointed” at the start of this LegCo session as opposition lawmakers have failed to meet the expectations of the people of Hong Kong to tackle the current economic recession and long-term social issues related to people’s livelihoods
Opposition lawmaker Wu Chi-wai later told the media that the opposition applied a “delaying tactic” to prevent the government from enacting “evil laws”, which he said is one of the reasons his camp remained in office in the extended year of the sixth LegCo term.
Pro-establishment lawmaker Martin Liao Cheung-kong described the opposition’s argument as “nonsense”, saying that the bill itself was not even controversial.
The concerned bill proposed reducing the number of Justices of Appeal from three to two at each Court of Appeal, which would allow for more flexibility in the allocation of judges and handling the backlog of cases. More than half of the legislators voted their approval and passed the bill after LegCo President Andrew Leung Kwanyuen used his power to end the debate at 4 pm.
A local resident surnamed Hui said he was “extremely disappointed” at the start of this LegCo session as opposition lawmakers have failed to meet the expectations of the people of Hong Kong to tackle the current economic recession and long-term social issues related to people’s livelihoods.
These irresponsible lawmakers were using “supervising the government” as an excuse to paralyze the legislature, as most of the bills concerned the economy, environment, and public health, he said.
The city’s legislature was paralyzed for seven months beginning in October 2019 as opposition politicians blocked the election of the chairman of the House Committee. The chaos lasted until May, after Leung invoked Article 92 of the Rule of Procedure to remove opposition lawmaker Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, the former vice-chairman of the House Committee, as acting chairman and appointed Finance Committee Chairman Chan Kin-por to take over.
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Barrister Lawrence Ma Yankwok told China Daily that both the Basic Law and the Rules of Procedure of LegCo gave the LegCo president the authority to determine the progress of LegCo meetings.
Under Article 72 of the Basic Law, the LegCo president may “decide on the agenda, decide on the time of meetings … and exercise other powers and functions as prescribed in the rules of procedure of the Legislative Council”.
The LegCo president was also authorized to expel from the chamber those who do not respect his statutory, Ma said.
LegCo started its 2020-21 session on Oct 14. The sixth-term LegCo was granted permission by the national legislature to discharge its duties for no less than a year after the Hong Kong SAR government decided to postpone the Seventh LegCo election until Sept 6, 2021.
