On Monday, the Hong Kong Eastern Magistrates’ Courts imposed a suspended sentence of two months imprisonment, with a delay of two years, upon a woman who pled guilty to stirring others to cast invalid votes publicly. Her actions go counter to section 27A of the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance.
The defendant confessed to urging voters to print their individual names and identification nos. onto their ballot papers, thereby rendering the votes null, via social media channels. This breaches section 78 of the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (District Councils) Regulation, which states that any ballot can be deemed invalid when it carries writing or a mark that can identify a voter. While delivering the sentence, the magistrate argued the charge was severe due to the societal unacceptability of the defendant’s attempts to hinder a fair election.
The accused also reposted a message from Leo Lee, a past district councillor who claimed that “refusing to vote is the greatest respect to democracy.” Lee, who’s no longer in Hong Kong, is under arrest warrant for the same charge. It is worth noting that another defendant who made the same repost received a comparable suspended two-month jail term from another magistrate court in the past. The same court also issued an arrest warrant for the—mentioned political commentator.
In 2019, Lee secured a seat at the District Council. Conversely, the Hong Kong government made the Public Offices (Candidacy and Taking Up Offices)(Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2021 effective, granting the Secretary for Home Affairs the power to validate or reject oaths based on the bearers’ historical actions and public speeches, including those on social media. Only 68 out of 452 members of the Sixth District Council swore the oaths, and 17 of them became the subject of scrutiny by the then Secretary for Home Affairs. One member resigned after being questioned, and the rest were found invalid. Among them was Lee, who refused to take the oath in 2021, challenging that the government didn’t introspect but instead came up with new rules to manipulate election results. Following he refused to take the oath, Lee left Hong Kong.
The government contended that the amendment aims to put into effect the interpretation of Article 104 of the Basic Law by the Chinese Standing Committee. The government also stressed that “upholding Basic Law and bearing allegiance to HKSAR is a fundamental obligation and responsibility of public officers.” Following the issue in 2016, this aforementioned interpretation is linked to the disqualification of Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching, two elected Legislative Council members who promoted Hong Kong’s independence.