Monday, December 05, 2016

Government Applies to Strip Hong Kong Chief Executive of His Office



Following his successful request to the High Court to unseat two young Legislative Council members on the grounds that they had not taken their oaths of office with due sincerity, Hong Kong’s Secretary for justice Rimsky Yuen today announced that the government is applying for a judicial review against Chief Executive CY Leung on the same basis. Explaining the move, Yuen stated: “The CE has sworn allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR, but his actions in office clearly demonstrate that his true allegiance is to the Chinese Communist Party, heedless of the interests of Hong Kong.  This places him in obvious breach of the NPCSC’s recent interpretation of the Basic Law, requiring oaths to be taken sincerely.”

“Furthermore,” Yuen continued: “Article 43 of the Basic Law states that the CE shall ‘represent Hong Kong’.  Having been elected by only 689 votes, and with his support ratings consistently running well below 50%, the CE is also unable to fulfil this requirement.  Accordingly we shall be asking the Court to declare his office vacant.”

Yuen was at pains to point out that this decision was made purely on legal grounds, with no political considerations being taken into account.

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