Politics
Written by: Zheng Baosheng
2019-12-17 19:19
Last updated: 2019-12-17 19:19Liu Yingkuang and Hong Kong Zhongzhi Zhou Ting signed up for the by-election of the Legislative Council last year. They were disqualified from the election by the Returning Officer. Was sentenced to "not properly elected".
Ou Nuoxuan and Fan Guowei applied for an appeal to the Court of Final Appeal. The court refused to grant leave to appeal today (17th), and they immediately lost their legislative membership.
This decision means that the Democrats won two seats in the by-election in March 2018 and "regained", and the situation has once again become dangerous.
Ou Nuoxuan lost the seat of the Legislative Council. (Photo by Gao Zhongming)
Retaining only 24 seats is enough to veto major motions
Democrats won two seats in the last legislative by-election to 26 seats, while constitutionalists also increased by two seats to 43 seats. Before the districts Nuo Xuan and Fan Guowei lost their seats, the democrats have lost their veto power for group counting, but veto powers for major bills such as political reforms or motions to rob them of membership are still there.
According to the rules, if a major government bill is rejected by two-thirds of all members of the Legislative Council, it will not be passed. This is the "critical minority veto power." There are 70 members of the Legislative Council. After the districts of Nuo Xuan and Fan Guowei lost their seats, the Democrats only retained 24 seats, and they only guarded the key minority veto. As long as anyone was DQed again, the Democrats were unable to prevent the passage of major bills .
Even if there is a by-election, there is an "empty window period" before the by-election. If the disqualification process is started during this period, the democrats will lose their key veto power.
The Basic Law provides that 7 cases can be disqualified
Article 79 of the Basic Law stipulates that members of the parliament will be disqualified in seven cases. One is severe illness or other circumstances inability to perform their duties. Second, without the consent of the President of the Legislative Council and without reasonable explanation, he did not attend the meeting for three consecutive months.
The third is the loss or renunciation of the status of a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The fourth is to accept government appointments and serve as public servants. Fifth, it is bankrupt or the court decides to repay the debt without performing it.
Sixth, he was convicted of a criminal offence within or outside the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, sentenced to imprisonment for more than one month, and dismissed by two-thirds of the members of the Legislative Council who attended the meeting. Seventh, two thirds of the members of the Legislative Council meeting who have misconducted or violated their oaths have condemned them.
Ou Nuoxuan (left) and Fan Guowei (right) failed to obtain leave to appeal in the Court of Final Appeal, and their seats were declared invalid. (Photo by Zhu Xixin)
Can be moved to condemn and disqualify if sentenced to 1 month or more
If a member of the Legislative Council is sentenced to imprisonment for more than one month, the procedure for disqualification can be entered in accordance with Rule 49B of the Legislative Council.
First of all, Members need to move a motion condemning them, and there must be no amendment to this motion. This motion of condemnation needs to be approved by two-thirds of the members present at the meeting, and the chairman of the Legislative Council shall immediately declare the member disqualified.
Several MPs were arrested in the anti-revision case, including Zhu Kaidi, Ou Nuoxuan, Democratic Party Lin Zhuoting, People's Power Chen Zhiquan, Citizen Party Guo Jiaqi and Street Worker Liang Yaozhong, who were arrested before November 8, saying they On the 11th, the Fugitive Offenders Bills Committee chaired by Shi Liqian violated Article 19 of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance.
Democrats will not be enough to reject resolutions
The content of the law is to interfere with members of parliament, members of the Legislative Council or witnesses. Once convicted, they can be fined 10,000 yuan and imprisoned for 12 months, which means that the sentence may meet the threshold for disqualification.
If these members are sentenced to jail, they are more likely to affect the seats of other democratic members. On December 11, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) Huang Dingguang moved to dismiss Chen Shuzhuang of the Citizen Party and Shao Jiazhen, a member of the Social Welfare Sector, but was rejected under the full escort of the Democratic Party.
The anti-revision storm has not subsided. If the above-mentioned serial DQ situation occurs, the political situation may become more turbulent.
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Nuo Xuan Fan Guowei
