We were all a bit baffled earlier this afternoon on hearing that only eight pro-government lawmakers cast their votes for Hong Kong’s controversial election reforms because dozens had walked out of the chamber.
Why the hell would they do that, we wondered?
Well, it turns out it was a simple miscommunication – albeit one with potentially wide-reaching consequences.
According to the SCMP, around 30 members of the pro-establishment camp left the chamber with less than a minute to go before the vote after they asked for an adjournment to wait for a tardy peer.
The only problem is that LegCo President Jasper Tsang refused the adjournment, although seemingly not quite loudly enough. The majority walked out anyway.
The vote therefore went ahead without them, with all 27 pan-democratic lawmakers going out against the proposal as expected.
The election reforms were therefore rejected.
Civic Party lawmaker Alan Leong pointed out that the absence of the pro government supporters will go down in the records as a “no” vote for each.
“As a matter of [LegCo’s] procedures, absence is treated as the same as an opposing vote. This is a historic record of today’s voting,” he told the SCMP.
Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan added, “History is on the side of democracy.”
Photo: Alex E. Proimos
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