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LegCo election – a new paradigm

The Legislative Council (“LegCo”) General Election will be held about three weeks later. A total of 153 candidates will compete for 90 seats, giving rise to intense competition in both geographical and functional constituencies. In some constituencies, there are as many as five candidates competing for one seat. In other constituencies with fewer candidates, the competition is no less intense. The candidates are making their best efforts to win the election. Indeed, the election is far more competitive than expected. I believe the coming new term of LegCo will comprise not only veterans, but also many new faces.

A few days ago, I invited my colleagues to watch an election forum arranged for the 51 candidates running for the 40 seats of the Election Committee constituency. During the debate, the candidates’ focus fell on a wide range of topics, from Hong Kong’s integration into national development, our economic and industry development, to people’s livelihood and better allocation of resources to address wealth disparity. Although you may not be familiar with all of the candidates, each of them has been actively participating in social and community services, with a deep understanding on Hong Kong’s social and economic development.

With the improvement to the electoral system, Hong Kong is entering a new phase of governance and prosperity and the LegCo is moving towards a new paradigm. Under the new political landscape, the next term of LegCo could work in full swing to improve people’s livelihood, promote economic development and build a better future for Hong Kong.

Regardless of your background, your keen attention to and participation in the LegCo election is very important. The election provides an opportunity for us to deepen our understanding and express our views on Hong Kong’s development and other social issues, enabling us to work together to build a better future for Hong Kong and share the fruits of development.

The implementation of the National Security Law and the improvement to the electoral system in Hong Kong have restored stability and put Hong Kong back on the right track of social and political development. An improved electoral system will not only strengthen and put into practice the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong”, but also implement the executive-led governance and enable the administration to put the interests of people at the centre of development. By doing so, we can concentrate on promoting development for people’s well-being, addressing deep-seated problems in Hong Kong and seizing the enormous opportunities brought by national development.

With the full support of the Central Government and restoration of executive-led governance, the Government could work at full steam to promote development and improve people’s livelihood. At the same time, the LegCo could actively perform its function of facilitation and monitoring and the society could focus on economic and social development. With our society working together for a better Hong Kong, we could resolve our deep-seated problems.

How could we effectively overcome the constraints on our development and address the needs of different strata and sectors of our community? Apparently, it is important to engage more people with different expertise and experience from different social strata, bringing in multiple perspectives yet working towards the same objective to build the future of Hong Kong. From this angle, we could better understand the meaning and function of the improvement to the electoral system.

In fact, the 153 candidates of the LegCo election have various background. Apart from familiar faces from political parties, there are also professionals, leaders from business sector, labour sector or societies, former officials and people with religious or grassroots background. They represent different parts of the political spectrum, reflecting a balanced participation in the election.

The candidates’ election platforms cover a wide range of issues, such as land and housing, labour and social welfare, healthcare as well as economic and political development. The candidates indeed hold different views on policy issues, reflecting the complexity and considerations behind public policies. Faced with different needs and values in the society, some of which may even be conflicting ones, the Government has to strike a right balance.

The candidates of the LegCo election represent the views and interests of different groups or backgrounds, just like a miniature of our community. If elected, they could assist the Government with policy formulation, addressing pressing problems while having a vision for long-term development. The Government and the LegCo could work together to enhance public policies and capitalise on the prevailing situation to achieve better development.

What is our vision for the future of Hong Kong? I believe many people aspire to economic prosperity, job security, better quality of life and decent living space. Let’s actively participate in this LegCo election and play a part in achieving balanced and inclusive participation, facilitating LegCo to focus on the development of Hong Kong and support our society to progress in unity.

November 28, 2021