News Digest

Hong Kong lawmakers reject Beijing-backed political reform package

Hong Kong lawmakers have rejected a Beijing-backed political reform package that has sparked mass protests. Most pro-government lawmakers staged a walkout as the bill headed for defeat, with just eight casting their vote in support of the package and 28 voting against it. They later blamed it on a miscommunication, saying that they had been waiting for a colleague who was ill to return to the chamber and has asked for a 15-minute break. The government needed at least 47 of the 70 politicians to vote in favour of the proposal.

This veto has helped Hong Kong people send a clear message to Beijing…that we want a genuine choice, a real election.

Pan-democratic lawmaker Alan Leong.

The proposal would have given all residents the right to vote for Hong Kong leader for the first time in 2017, but would have included a Beijing ruling requiring candidates to be vetted by a loyalist committee. Tens of thousands of people staged protests in Hong Kong last year against the Beijing government’s election screening requirement. For 11 weeks, protesters camped out on major roads in three neighbourhoods in Hong Kong to demand greater electoral freedom. They eventually dispersed after Hong Kong’s unpopular leader, Leung Chun-ying, refused to offer any concessions.

This is not the end of the democratic movement. This is a new beginning.

Alan Leong.