Hong Kong litigant loses judicial challenge over new nomination rule for district council election hopefuls

The High Court dismissed a judicial review application brought by retired civil servant Kwok Cheuk-kin, who argued the new rule that prospective candidates needed to win the backing of Beijing loyalist community leaders to qualify infringed upon the right protected by the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.

The December 10 poll, which will be the first district-level election without the pan-democrats’ involvement in almost four decades, requires candidates to first receive the blessing of three government-appointed district committees to be eligible to run.

He suggested the threshold for participation might appear stringent and a “Kafkaesque doorway” for those who lacked ties with the nominators.

Coleman highlighted the fact that more than three-quarters of the 171 candidates competing for 88 seats across 44 geographical constituencies were members of the nominating bodies.

“As it turns out, the ‘gatekeepers’ have opened the gates mainly for themselves,” Coleman said in his 90-page judgment.

Coleman also found some merit in the applicant’s contention about the lack of an effective safeguard against an arbitrary decision to refuse nomination.

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Coleman said the appointment of district committee members was connected to the legitimate aim of fully implementing the guiding principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong”, as well as to ensure only those dedicated to public service would be elected.

He added he considered it highly likely those with the power to nominate candidates would be aware and mindful of their duties because of the significant media coverage given to the election.

“The ‘belt and braces’ approach to ensuring some of the key elements and aims of the [electoral] reforms for administration of the district level does not seem to me to be anything like manifestly unreasonable,” Coleman said.

“It is unfair to suggest that the members of the [three district committees] would exercise their nomination powers arbitrarily, instead of by reference to the aims and objectives already identified.”

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Coleman criticised Kwok for a deliberate delay in the filing of the application through his adoption of a “wait-and-see” approach until he could confirm no opposition hopefuls had qualified for the election.

The court added that Kwok’s legal standing in the case was “at best doubtful” because he was no longer a voter.

But the judgment said the court had found it necessary to decide on the legal bid’s merits in the wider public interest.

The opposition won a landslide victory in the 2019 poll after months of anti-government protests, but were later accused of putting politics above community work.

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Beijing revised the electoral rules to install a “patriots only” system in Hong Kong after the enactment of the national security law in 2020.

The city government also defended the changes as necessary to put the municipal-level bodies back on the right track of serving the public and prevent the district councils being used to promote separatism.

The number of directly elected members was slashed to less than a fifth of the overall vacancies.

Most seats will be filled by the chief executive and district committee members and rural representatives will take the rest.

A government spokesman on Friday night said the court ruling had provided a solid legal basis for the district council election.