Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok speaks to the crowd during Occupy Central.Yvonne Leung Lai-kwok, one of the student leaders involved in Occupy Central, filed for a judicial review in the High Court seeking an instruction for the government to restart the territory’s political reform consultation process. She said the Hong Kong government should not have endorsed Beijing’s ruling. No court date has been set.
“According to the 2004 interpretation of the Basic Law, the NPCSC [National People’s Congress Standing Committee] is to decide if there is a need to amend the election method of the chief executive,” Leung said. “But not how it should be amended like it did with the August 31 decision.”
The NPCSC decided on August 31 last year suggested how the election method should be changed. This included creating a nominating committee and the number of candidates.
The second phase of the ongoing consultation, which began in January, will be finished by the end of the week.
“Any [move] that could disrupt the already tight schedule on realising the election by universal suffrage of the chief executive is worrisome to me,” Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said.
Beijing has said the restrictive plan will ensure Hong Kong’s prosperity without challenging its sovereignty and national security. Pro-democrats claimed it would effectively block pro-democracy contenders from running, making the one-man, one-vote ballot on a chosen few meaningless.