Signing declaration of allegiance a non-starter for Joshua Wong, other candidate hopefuls for September’s Hong Kong elections
- On heels of successful primary, city’s opposition camp finds itself divided on question of signing a form pledging allegiance to the city and its Basic Law
- Former Demosisto leader warns placing too much emphasis on a candidate’s decision is a ‘trap to undermine unity’
More opposition hopefuls, including activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung, made it clear they do not intend to sign a form pledging to uphold Hong Kong’s Basic Law and allegiance to the city as the nominating window for the coming Legislative Council elections kicked off on Saturday.
Their defiance, which could put them at risk of being disqualified, comes as Beijing’s mouthpiece urged Hongkongers not to support opposition candidates with a “scorched-earth mentality” who would seek to cripple the government should they win.
The opening day of the nomination period for the September polls saw 18 candidate lists returned by opposition and pro-establishment parties as well as independent hopefuls.
The city’s opposition camp has so far been split on the question of whether to sign the declaration form, which was introduced by the government four years ago.
While some localists had earlier indicated a willingness to sign – as they did ahead of last year’s district council elections to avoid disqualification for “technical reasons” – some have also called on a united opposition to demonstrate its will to fight.
