Filibuster - Hong Kong

Hong Kong

An example of filibuster in the Legislative Council after the Handover was the second reading of the Provision of Municipal Services (Reorganization) Bill 1999, which was to dissolve the partially democratically elected Urban Council and Regional Council. As the absence of some pro-Establishment legislators prohibited them from passing the bill, they filibustered along with Michael Suen, the then-Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, so that the absentees could cast their vote when the meeting was resumed on the next day. Facing criticism from the pro-democracy camp, Lau Kong-wah of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) defended their actions, saying "t is totally acceptable in a parliamentary assembly."

Pro-democracy legislators filibustered against the financing for the constructions of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link by raising many questions on very specific issues, delaying the passing of the bill from 18 December 2009 to 16 January 2010. On the evenings the meetings were held, the Legislative Council Building was surrounded by thousands of anti-high-speed rail protesters.

In 2012, Albert Chan and Raymond Wong of People Power submitted 1306 amendments altogether to the Legislative Council (Amendment) Bill, by which the government attempted to forbid resigning lawmakers from participating in by-elections. The pro-democracy camp was strongly opposed to the bill, as it was seen as depriving citizens of their political rights. Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats and Andrew Cheng also participated in the filibustering. Miriam Lau of the Liberal Party carried out a 30-hour hunger strike to voice her opposition against such act of obstructionism and waste of public coffers. The Legislative Council carried on multiple overnight debates on the amendments with the support of the pro-Establishment camp. In the end, all amendments were defeated and the Bill was passed.

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