Hong Kong Olympic gold medallist Vivian Kong Man-wai will sign up for the coming Legislative Council election on Monday, vying for the tourism sector seat.
Advertisement
Her election office confirmed that the 31-year-old would submit her nomination form for the tourism functional constituency in the afternoon, ending weeks-long speculation.
The Post reported on Saturday that Kong, who won gold in the women’s individual epee at the Paris Olympic Games last year and retired from her sports career right away, had suspended her duties as the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s assistant external affairs manager.
It was reported that she had originally aimed for a seat in the directly elected geographical constituencies but later found that her possession of a Canadian passport barred her from running, as candidates are required to be Chinese citizens who hold a Hong Kong permanent identity card and have no right of abode in any foreign country.
Under Hong Kong’s electoral system, this requirement is exempted only for 12 functional constituencies, such as tourism, accountancy and commerce, where permanent residents like Kong, who reportedly holds a foreign passport, may still stand for election.
Advertisement
As of Saturday, 148 people had submitted their nomination forms for the December 7 race, the second held under Beijing’s ‘patriots-only’ electoral reform. The two-week nomination period ends on November 6.