Hong Kong’s Legco withdraws farewell motion amid electoral fairness concerns

Hong Kong’s legislature will break from another tradition by withdrawing a valedictory motion marking the end of its four-year term, with a veteran lawmaker citing concerns over electoral fairness.

Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the Legislative Council’s House Committee, who was supposed to put forward the farewell motion, revealed on Tuesday that she withdrew it after receiving feedback from some lawmakers.

The motion typically sees lawmakers delivering goodbye speeches to mark the term’s end and expressing their political hopes for the city.

“The election is shaping up to be highly competitive. Some lawmakers worry that having the valedictory motion could prompt unfairness, while others want more time to focus on election matters with the nomination period approaching,” Lee said, without elaborating why the debate might be unfair to some potential candidates.

Lee noted the timing of the debate would be very close to the coming Legco election nomination period, which begins on Friday.

The previous-term Legco tabled its farewell motion on October 27, 2021, only three days before the start of the nomination period that year.