EMILY TSANG AND JEFFIE LAM
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 24 November, 2015, 2:58am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 24 November, 2015, 10:23am
NeoDemocrats proclaim victory in the district polls. Photo: Edward Wong
Some of the so-called "umbrella soldiers" who were moved to action by the Occupy protests last year may have romped home to victory in Sunday's district council elections, but they are not expecting the road ahead to be smooth.
Even as they keep an eye on the Legislative Council elections next year, they concede that they need to build a more sophisticated network of supporters and resources to sustain their electoral gains.
Several said joining the race for the first time opened their eyes to the organisational abilities of rivals from the pro-government camp.
"It was beyond our imagination how they can mobilise their voters in a short period of time," said Baggio Leung Chung-heng, convenor of post-Occupy group Youngspiration.
"They have money to hire agency companies to design their strategies. All their banners suddenly appeared in the district in just a few hours. But we have to do all this with our own hands and those of our supporters."
Of the nine people in the group who joined the election, only one won. Kwong Po-yin, a doctor, defeated incumbent Lau Wai-wing from Kowloon West New Dynamic in Whampoa West district.
But 24-year-old Yau Wai-ching gave her opponent, the Business and Professionals Alliance lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, a scare when her share of votes came up just 300 short of Leung's in Whampoa East.
Baggio Leung said he believed the pro-government camp had changed their strategy and mobilised all their resources to back Priscilla Leung when they sensed last-minute danger.
All nine candidates from the group managed to win a total of 12,000 votes.
Nevertheless, the next fight is already on their agenda - the by-election for a Legislative Council seat in New Territories East and then next year's Legco election.
"The fight to reclaim Hong Kong back in the hands of Hongkongers has just begun," the Youngspiration convenor said.
Another set of new faces to watch comes from the NeoDemocrats. In a U-turn, the group, which said earlier it would not contest "super seats" in the Legco poll, said it was not ruling out the possibility now that it had 15 councillors -- up from eight before.
The NeoDemocrats are a localist group which broke away from the Democratic Party. It won 15 out of 16 district seats contested and gained the minimum number that allows them to nominate a super-seat candidate.
Five "super seats" will be up for grabs in next year's Legco election. Candidates must be district councillors and are chosen by electors throughout Hong Kong who do not have a vote in traditional functional constituencies.
The group's lawmaker, Gary Fan Kwok-wai, said the party remained against the idea of "super seats", but they might give it a go "if it would be helpful to democratic development".
NeoDemocrat Yam Kai-bong, who was crowned "king of votes" for securing 4,148 votes, called on all winners - both pan-democrats and "umbrella soldiers" - to devote themselves to district work and learn from the lessons of 2003, when pan-democrats recorded a big win in local elections in the aftermath of the July 1 protest against national security legislation and then lost seats to the pro-establishment camp four years later because of their unsatisfactory performance.
"You would not be able to retain the title of district councilor ….without solid work at the district level," Yam said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1882470/hong-kongs-umbrella-soldiers-look-bigger-things-after
