Pro-Democratic Civic Party to Disband in Hong Kong

The dapper Leong (centre) steps down as chairman of the party

Another piece of the democracy that Hong Kong used to have will soon disappear. After 16 years, the Civic Party will disband because no members are interested in taking up the mantle due to political events in the last few years.

Current chairman, Alan Leong Kah-kit made the announcement on Monday after no nominations were received for the executive positions in the party. As a result the Civic Party will disband after a final vote in an emergency general meeting in February. 

Leong says no one wants to lead the party

Leong said "it was not a surprise" no one came forward, and that no one had any ideas on how to keep the party going.

"That has not been unexpected, given what happened and what transpired in the past half year or so," he said.

When the Civic Party is dissolved, Leong said he will leave politics.

When I used to go on long walks along the waterfront from Wan Chai to Sai Ying Pun or Kennedy Town in the evenings, I saw Leong maybe three or four times, walking along the harbourfront too, or standing at an observation deck in front of Tamar, watching the world go by. 

Maybe he was pondering the future of the party and his fate. He is not as active on social media as Emily Lau Wai-hing is, who makes an effort to visit her friends, now in jail; perhaps he too is waiting until he has shed all his political responsibility, or just trying to lay low in general.

The Civic Party was founded in 2006 that represented professionals including lawyers, accountants and academics. Senior Counsel Audrey Eu Yuet-mee was the party's founding leader.

Eu was the Civic Party's founding leader in 2006

The party had seats elected into the Legislative Council since 2008, but in November 2020, four of its members were ousted from the legislature for being "unpatriotic".

Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong were declared disqualified, which triggered mass resignations by opposition legislators, and in turn resulted in a mostly pro-Beijing legislature.

In addition, Yeung and Kwok Ka-ki, along with Jeremy Tam Man-ho and Lee Yue-shun, are currently charged under the national security law, as part of the 47 political figures and activists charged with conspiring to commit subversion over the primary elections that were held in July 2020.

Yeung, Tam and Kwok have been detained for more than 21 months, waiting for the case to go to trial. They have all pleaded guilty and have asked to be sentenced as soon as possible. Their lawyer told the High Court in September that they "have been anxious", spending almost two years remanded in custody with no chance of bail.

However, Lee was granted bail, and will stand trial together with 16 other defendants who denied the charge in late January next year.

The quartet was ousted from Legco in 2020

With these prominent members in jail, and Dennis Kwok in exile practicing law in New York, it's hard to see how there is any future for the Civic Party, let alone any kind of pro-democratic political party to exist in Hong Kong anymore.