Student’s senior counsel Anson Wong asks government to prove what extra qualities person can gain between age 18 and current limit of 21
CHRIS.LAU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Wednesday, 01 June, 2016, 12:13pm
Joshua Wong’s lawyers asked the court why there was a three-year gap between the ages required to vote and to stand for election. Photo: Dickson Lee
A legal crusade by student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung to lower the minimum age for contenders in the legislative poll commenced in court on Tuesday, as his lawyers called for the government to explain the discrepancy between becoming a voter and candidate.
The minimum age to cast a vote in the city’s quadrennial Legislative Council elections is 18, while the threshold for those vying for a seat is 21 – three years more, the High Court heard.
Wong, who argued that the minimum age for candidates should be lowered to 18, asked the court via his lawyers for permission to hear his case. The court will hand down its ruling within the coming few weeks.
This comes months ahead of the Legco elections in September, in which Wong, 18, earlier expressed an interest to run when he filed the case in October last year.
But outside court on Tuesday, Wong conceded: “I believe the chance of me signing up for the elections before [the deadline in] July is slim.”
In court, the student’s senior counsel Anson Wong Man-kit cited the three-year gap between the minimum age to vote and to enter the elections, and questioned what extra qualities a person could gain during these times in terms of maturity.
“It is for the government to prove the extra qualities,” he said, adding that the government should provide materials to back its case.
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The counsel also asked Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung to take into account social changes since the 1980s, and that youngsters these days took general studies classes.
He argued that the court had an obligation to look at the issue and declare it unconstitutional or provide a correct interpretation of the law if it found necessary.
Benjamin Yu SC, for the Secretary of Justice, who took up the case on behalf of the government, however, said it was a political matter to be debated by the legislature, not the court.
He also countered Wong by saying that being able to vote and stand for election were two things of a different nature.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1961342/should-18-year-olds-contest-elections-activist-joshua-wong
