Image source,Reuters
One of the “enlightened” candidates, Selma Masood, canvassed votes on Tuesday and was ultimately defeated.
The Hong Kong Law Society’s council was re-elected. All five re-elected seats were won by the pro-organizational “professionals”, and the pro-democratic “enlightened” candidates all lost. Let the pro-democracy “enlightened” candidates all lose, allowing the establishment to retain control of the Law Society Council. After the pan-democrats modify the electoral system in Beijing, they cannot influence the election of the Hong Kong Chief Executive and the Legislative Council through the status of the Law Society on the election committee.
Before the re-election of the Hong Kong Law Society’s council, six members were considered to be pro-democratic “enlightened”. Originally, four candidates were also “enlightened”. The outside world expected that if these four were successfully elected, they could lead The Lawyers Council made many decisions, but the number of seats in the establishment camp increased after the election.
The election turmoil has continued. Chinese state media have repeatedly warned that the Law Society should not become a politicized organization. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam also said that professional organizations do unprofessional things. Some “enlightened” candidates withdrew from the election on the grounds of personal safety.
The Law Society of Hong Kong is one of the local professional bodies representing lawyers, and the other is the Bar Association, but their political attitudes are completely different. With the continuous dissolution of social movement organizations and labor unions in Hong Kong in recent months due to pressure from the Beijing and Hong Kong governments, the outside world was once concerned about whether professional organizations would become the next target of suppression by the authorities.
However, some analysts believe that the nature of professional organizations such as the Law Society, the Bar Association, and the Medical Association is different from that of general social movement organizations and trade unions, and they will not be directly targeted by the authorities.
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The Hong Kong Bar Association has repeatedly launched silent demonstrations to oppose the local government’s proposal to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance.
Controversy between “Professional School” and “Enlightened School”
In the election on Tuesday (August 24), all five pro-establishment “professional” candidates each received more than 3,000 votes. The three pro-democratic “enlightened” candidates each received less than 2,000 votes and lost. The centrist candidates received less than 300 votes.
When “professional” candidates met with reporters after being elected, they repeatedly emphasized that they would not be politicized after taking office and would not allow politics to override professionalism. One of the winners, Huang Qiaoxin, spoke on behalf of the “professionals” and described them as “doing a little bit in a politicized society” and uniting the professional aspirations of lawyers.
In this election, four “enlightened” candidates participated in the election, giving the democratic camp a chance to control more than half of the seats on the Council of the Law Society, which led to numerous comments from the Chinese state media and the Hong Kong establishment camp.
Among them, the People’s Daily published an article on August 13 stating that the Law Society should show its difference from the Bar Association through rational elections in order to gain more room for development. Hong Kong Secretary of Justice Zheng Ruohua and Carrie Lam also made similar remarks, saying that the Law Society should not be politicized.
Hong Kong’s pro-organized newspapers and organizations have continued to speak out for several days, criticizing some of the “enlightened” Law Society directors and candidates. Among them, the pro-organization organization “Hong Kong Political Research Council” refers to one of the candidates, Luo Zhangnan, who in 2018 learned about a case from a vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court of China for violating the relevant regulations of the Law Society, and accused him of last year Participate in the joint signature to oppose the Hong Kong government’s cancellation of the seats of the four pan-democratic legislators.
A few days before the polling day, Luo Zhangnan announced last Saturday (August 21) that he would withdraw from the election on the grounds of personal and family safety, revealing that he had received telephone threats. He also issued a statement, emphasizing that the dialogue with the vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court was not inappropriate. The Lawyers Association had investigated the incident earlier and reached the same conclusion.
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Peng Yunxi (left), the current president of the Law Society, is regarded as a pro-establishment faction. (Profile picture)
“Good word to persuade”
The Law Society of Hong Kong is one of the local lawyers’ representative organizations, and the other is the Hong Kong Bar Association. They are professional organizations and are authorized by the government to supervise industry insiders. They have the right to call lawyers or barristers accused of violations to attend disciplinary hearings, and even The other party’s qualification to practice is cancelled, and other similar organizations include the Hong Kong Medical Association, which supervises doctors.
In addition, both the Law Society and the Bar Association can vote in the election committee elections so that they can influence the election of the Hong Kong Chief Executive. After Beijing amends Hong Kong’s election method, it can even influence the Legislative Council elections.
In the past, the Law Society of Hong Kong was dominated by members of the pro-organizational faction. The current chairman Peng Yunxi’s position is also regarded as the pro-organizational faction. He once criticized the destructive behavior in the wave of demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019 for ignoring the law and discipline. After Hong Kong’s “National Security Law” was implemented in June last year, she also publicly stated that she was happy that the Beijing government had listened to the voice of the Law Society when establishing this law.
The position of the Hong Kong Bar Association in the past was closer to that of the democrats. When it responded to Hong Kong’s National Security Law last year, it criticized it. Some provisions conflict with the Basic Law, which also weakened the protection of Hong Kong’s judicial independence and basic human rights and freedoms. The statement was criticized by Beijing officials.
Image source,Reuters
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam commented on the election of the Law Society Council. For professional organizations to do unprofessional things, the government’s only orientation “is to terminate relations with it.”
In recent months, the dissolution of many democratic organizations in Hong Kong, including the largest single-industry trade union education association in Hong Kong, and the People’s Front, which has held many demonstrations in the past, has made the outside world concerned about whether these professional organizations will become the next batch of targets.
Liu Zhaojia, vice president of the National Hong Kong and Macau Research Association, believes that the professions of doctors and lawyers are different from other professions in society, and I believe that the Beijing government will not want to deal with it directly unless necessary.
In an interview with the Hong Kong media before the election of the Law Society Council, he said that the Beijing government only saw that the Law Society might be manipulated by some militant forces that would “persuade each other,” and even warnings are “warnings that leave room.” .