EJ Insight » Hong KongToday, 2:35 PM
Remzi Wu says on Facebook (inset) he was asked to split the vote in Tai Hang constituency to prevent Clarisse Yeung from winning the seat. He declined, but she won anyway. Photos: Reuters, Facebook, elections.gov.hk
A former pan-democrat has revealed how a pro-establishment politician tried to get him to split the pro-democratic vote with a newcomer in last Sunday’s district council elections and keep her from winning a seat.
Remzi Wu Hing-yin, who ran for the League of Social Democrats in the 2011 district council elections, told Ming Pao Daily he was approached in August by a district council member from the pro-establishment camp who tried to persuade him to be a candidate in Tai Hang constituency in Wan Chai.
Wu, who also wrote about the invitation on his Facebook page, said he was told the aim was for him to take some votes from independent candidate Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying so that Gigi Wong, the candidate for the pro-establishment New People’s Party, would be elected.
The person told Wu he could have all the resources he needed and that his business in the mainland would benefit from his cooperation.
Wu, who left politics several years ago and is now engaged in the business of financial law, said he turned down the offer. He did not say who the person was.
In the event, Yeung beat Wong to become one of the nine “umbrella soldiers” — supporters of the 79-day Occupy protests last year turned political hopefuls — who won seats in Sunday’s elections.
Asked whether she knew before the elections about the invitation to Wu, New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said she had never heard about it and declined to comment.
Wu said he was glad to see Yeung win.
He said the reason he disclosed the incident was that what happened to him before the elections might be just the tip of the iceberg.
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