The five lawmakers elected in citywide Legco polls face a test of political endurance in also having to answer to their local constituents
NG KANG-CHUNGkc.ng@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Friday, 04 December, 2015, 6:20pm
UPDATED : Friday, 04 December, 2015, 6:20pm
Why Hong Kong's five 'super seat' lawmakers are feeling the political heat
Run ragged by weeks of intense campaigning, "super district councillor" Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood barely managed to keep himself together before the media as the votes were counted in the district council polls and his painful loss became apparent.
Fung was rejected by his constituents after 12 years' service, losing his seat in the Lai Kok constituency of Sham Shui Po to his pro-establishment opponent Joephy Chan Wing-yan of the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU).
The defeat, by just 99 votes, means Fung is disqualified from running for the "super seat" in the Legislative Council elections next year.
A "super district councillor" is a lawmaker returned from the district council (second) constituency of Legco. Candidates must be district councillors and nominated by 15 other council members, before being able to enter the citywide elections.
The seats were introduced in the last Legco election in 2012 as a compromise solution to reform the functional constituencies, the bulk of which are elected by voters from their respective professional or trade sectors.
There are five such "super seats". Four of the five incumbents took part in this year's district level elections - Fung, Democrats James To Kun-sun and Albert Ho Chun-yan, and Starry Lee Wai-king, of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. Only To and Lee were re-elected.
The fifth, Chan Yuen-han of the FTU, did not run.
Playing a dual role as both a district councillor and a legislator, Fung conceded it was tough to juggle local neighbourhood affairs in his constituency and wider political issues in Legco.
"You are required to be almost almighty to be a super seat councillor. While you cannot overlook neighbourhood community issues, you also need to let people from across the territory know that you are working for them," said Fung. "So, I sometimes have had to pick some territory-wide issues to follow in order to maintain my popularity."
For a small party like his, Fung admitted it was not an easy mission. His dual role left him vulnerable to attacks by one of his other opponent, Eric Wong Chung-ki.
"All of us have only 24 hours to use in a day. It is not rocket science to figure out how much time [Mr Fung] can spare for community work," said Wong.
"He liked to boast that it was he who had been able to get the government to build a water fountain in the Sham Shui Po Park for residents.
"Come on. Does he know where the water fountain is? It is outside the men's public loo. Did he have Lai Kok residents in mind?" Sham Shui Po Park is in Fu Cheong constituency, neighbouring Lai Kok."
A Lai Kok Estate tenant, retiree Mr Pang, who did not vote in the November 22 elections, said: "I did not see Mr Fung often in the estate. But I think it is unfair to say he ignored us. He is a lawmaker and has much more important work to do."
According to district council attendance records, Fung could hardly be called lazy. He achieved a 92.3 per cent attendance rate, missing only two full council meetings during the 2012-15 term, which ends on December 31.
This compares favourably with Ho, whose average attendance of 83.5 per cent was the worst of the five. Lee managed 100 per cent attendance, To 95.8 per cent and Chan 88.2 per cent.
Ho, who lost to outspoken solicitor Junius Ho Kwan-yiu in the Lok Tsui constituency of Tuen Mun district by 277 votes, had also previously complained about the heavy workload in his dual role. He had served the constituency for 16 years and has been a legislator since the 1990s.
"Meetings of district council and legislative council often clash," said Ho in defence of his attendance record.
While working as both a lawmaker and a district councillor was a tough job, Fung and Ho said the strong voter-mobilising campaigns by their pro-establishment rivals were the main reason for their defeat.
"I might have underestimated the strength of their mobilisation," said Fung.
Ho also conceded his rivals' campaigns were unexpectedly strong. "If I had done much, much better, I might have won," he said.
A review of their votes showed the duo did not fare much worse this time round. Fung collected 2,432 votes, compared with 2,528 votes in the 2011 elections. Ho picked up 1,736 votes, slightly down from the 1,876 in 2011. To enjoyed a 50 per cent boost - 1,531 votes, up from 1,012.
To stressed the importance of time management and said he always put his constituents first.
"About 316,000 people in Hong Kong did vote for me [in the super seat election in 2012]. But the voters in my district council constituency should always come first because I could not have run for a super seat if I was not first elected as a district councillor," To said.
"If there is an item in a district council meeting that concerns my Olympic constituency, I would surely show up. When other items are being discussed, I may have to leave early for the Legislative Council work.
"If I am overwhelmed by calls for assistance, I would tackle those from my constituents first. It is not political calculation. It is political ethics."
Jessica Fung of Island Habourview, who voted for To, said she was satisfied with his community work.
"I don't think we need to see a councillor hanging around in the constituency all the time to show he is working for us. After all, I often see him on TV news. I think he is hard-working."
Dr James Sung Lap-kung, a political watcher at City University, believed the pro-establishment camp had from the outset aimed to unseat the three pan-democrats.
"The super seat elections next year will be crucial," said Sung. "The message in the district council election results is clear. Voters are fed up with veterans. Asking Mr James To to run again [for a super seat] may not be a foolproof plan."
Dixon Sing Ming, an associate professor at the University of Science and Technology's division of social science, shared a similar view but warned: "It is also risky if young candidates without citywide popularity are sent to contest the super seats."
Sung said the pan-democrats could send a new face to contest the coming Legco by-election to test his or her ability to attract votes. The by-election in the New Territories East constituency will be held on February 28 to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah.
Political parties have said it is too early to discuss plans for the "super seat" elections next year.
The Democratic Party grabbed 43 seats in the district councils and thus would be able to send two candidates for the "super seat" election. Earlier reports said the party's chief executive Lam Cheuk-ting and vice-chairman Lo Kin-hei could be potential candidates.
The localist NeoDemocrats won 15 district council seats but the party said it would not field candidates to run for "super seats", although it would not rule out supporting candidates from the pan-democracy camp.
NeoDemocrats lawmaker Gary Fan Kwok-wai said: "The reason why we formed the NeoDemocrats was because we opposed the 2010 political reforms of which one key feature was the introduction of the super seats. I see no reason why we should make a U-turn to support super seats now."
In the pro-establishment camp, the FTU's Wong Kwok-hing is tipped as a potential "super seat" candidate, to fill the seat to be left behind by Chan Yuen-han, who is expected to retire from politics next year.
Paul Tse Wai-chun, a directly elected lawmaker in Kowloon East constituency, was also reportedly considering seeking another term through the "super seat" election. There was also speculation that Lee's deputy, Holden Chow Ho-ding, would compete for a Legco "super seat". Chow, a government-appointed member of the Islands district council, won in the Tung Chung South constituency in the November 22 polls.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1886289/why-hong-kongs-five-super-seat-lawmakers-are-feeling
