01 point of view
Written by: Review Editor Room
2020-05-15 06:30
Last update date: 2020-05-15 06:30Last Friday (May 8), the House Committee of the Legislative Council became a farce. Not only did it not elect the chairman at the 17th meeting, it also evolved into a "scramble" between the establishment and the democrats in the afternoon. Looking back to the source, the election of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the committee should be conducted effectively. Guo Rongkeng's mode of chairing actually delayed the time, and even suspected of abusing the power of chairing.
According to the Rules of Procedure and the House Rules, the election of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the House Committee is expected to be effectively completed at a meeting or at least within a short period of time:
The election of the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the first session of each term of the Legislative Council shall be held at the first meeting of the committee held during that session; At the meeting held before the start of the session. (Article 75 (2A) of the Rules of Procedure);
The election of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the House Committee of the first session of each term of the Legislative Council shall be held at the first meeting of the committee held during that session. The first meeting of the House Committee in each term of office is held by the first member of the Legislative Council. (Article 20 (b) of the House Rules);
As for the election of the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the House Committee for the second or subsequent sessions of each term, they may be held at the meeting held before the start of the session. The meeting must be convened by the incumbent chairman of the House Committee. If the chairman and deputy chairman who were in office before the election are nominated as candidate candidates, the first ranked member among the members present shall preside over the election. (Article 20 (c) of the House Rules);
If the election is held at the first meeting of the House Committee or Panel of each term of the Legislative Council, the first ranked member among the members present shall preside over the election. If he is nominated as the candidate chairman, the first ranked member among the unnominated attending members shall preside over the election (Article 2a of Appendix IV of the House Rules).
Directly related to the election?
Elections should be conducted before or at the beginning of the session, so that the internal conference can be operated in the new session under the leadership of the new chairman. However, since Guo Rongkeng presided over the presidential election on October 15, members were allowed to discuss and propose motions on "the matters directly related to the elections", and there was no limit to speaking time on many occasions. Regardless of whether his starting point is in good faith, the election has actually been unreasonably delayed.
Regarding the disputes "directly related to the elections", Guo Rongkeng ’s chairman in October was the deputy chairman of the Executive Committee, and he believed that security issues related to the Executive Committee (such as the security of the Legislative Council Building and the police ’s possible requirements in different situations) Etc.), can even be discussed before the election. However, this will directly increase the number of issues that can be discussed before the election. In addition to the relevant issues of the Executive Committee, even the form of the election debate and the spirit of the election can be discussed in detail as "directly related to the election", making the election ineffective get on. If the legislator deliberately procrastinates, this reason "directly related to the election" can be abused, and the meeting has not entered the election process.
To take a step back, that is, some of the issues are directly related to the election of the chairman of the internal meeting, but Guo Rongkeng has not restricted the members to speak many times, so that many meetings have failed to vote on the motions proposed by the members, which also constitutes an unreasonable delay. Moreover, this may not only constitute a delay in theory, but in fact, the 17 meetings since October 15 failed to complete the election of the chairman, and the delay in the meeting has already occurred.
There will be a scuffle in the internal meeting, and there will be two stalemates in the pan-population system. (Photo by Luo Junhao)
"Chairman elections are organized in an orderly and effective manner"
Many people cited the legal opinion of the Legislative Council Secretariat in October as the reason and pointed out that Guo Rongkeng could allow Members to discuss matters "directly related to the election." However, it must be noted that at that time, the legal counsel of the Secretariat was only based on normal assumptions.
At the request of Member Zhang Guojun, the legal adviser of the Secretariat expressed opinions on the security issue on October 15th, and believed that the security issue of the Executive Committee and the election of the chairman were directly related. However, his opinion at that time was not that the discussion could be unlimited. The legal adviser actually emphasized that “if in an election forum for a while, members intend to ask candidates what they think about security arrangements, on this basis, I think it can be said that it is related to the election. It is only relevant based on this relationship. " Guo Rongkeng's practice of allowing members to discuss has since then made the election forum virtually indefinite, and the basis for the relevance of the discussions at the time no longer exists.
In addition, the legal adviser also pointed out at that time that the duty of presiding was to make "chairman elections organized in an orderly and effective manner", and Guo Rongkeng ’s manner of presiding had essentially made elections not "orderly and effective in holding". As his presidency, his power was originally limited to making the election orderly and effectively held, so that the new chairman can be produced within expectations, but Guo Rongkeng ’s mode of presidency has actually delayed the new chairman, and even the internal committee has not Ability to perform duties. If it is unintentional, it is a misuse of power; if it is deliberate, it is even more suspected of abusing power.
The former chairman Li Huiqiong, with the support of the establishment faction, held a meeting on May 8 to deal with other matters, and was accused by the democrats of exceeding authority. Do n’t talk about whether the original chairman has the right to deal with other matters, but when Guo Rongkeng ’s use of the presidency actually prevented the election from being completed at the 17th meeting, the democrats have not acknowledged the problem or explained to the society how to stop the situation. How do you convince the public?
Continue to read [Inner Meeting Storm] Comment article:
[Internal meeting turmoil] The chairman has no vacancies. Can Li Huiqiong handle other agendas?
[Internal meeting storm] Let the Legislative Council return to operation
Will the suspension of the Legislative Council stem from the Secretariat ’s wrong opinion? (under)
Will the suspension of the Legislative Council stem from the Secretariat ’s wrong opinion? (on)
[The meeting will be closed] Resolving the predicament still depends on the chairman of the Legislative Council?
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