【明報專訊】On 16 May 2010 pro-democracy lawmakers who had resigned previously were re-elected in five geographical constituencies (地方選區) in what they called a "de-facto referendum" (變相公投). Around 580,000 people cast their votes. A controversial event, it divided the pro-democracy camp.

The five lawmakers

The five lawmakers were Tanya Chan (陳淑莊, Hong Kong Island), Wong Yuk-man (黃毓民, Kowloon West), Alan Leong (梁家傑, Kowloon East), Albert Chan (陳偉業, New Territories West) and Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄, New Territories East).

The by-elections were triggered by the debate over the constitutional reform. The idea was that, if they were returned to the Legislative Council on their manifesto (宣言) of advocating real political reform in Hong Kong and the abolition (廢除) of functional constituencies (功能組別), the election could be seen as a de facto referendum.

Disagreements within pro-democracy camp

The "de-facto referendum" idea, which the League of Social Democrats (LSD, 社民連) first put forward, triggered bitter arguments within the pro-democracy camp. While the Civic Party (公民黨) supported it, the Democratic Party (民主黨), which was then the most influential pro-democracy party, was against it. Szeto Wah (司徒華), a political heavyweight, revealed that, in or around September 2009, the plan was discussed at a meeting brokered by Jimmy Lai (黎智英), owner of the Apple Daily (《蘋果日報》). At it he indicated he was opposed to the "unworkable" plan.

Albert Ho (何俊仁), who was then chairman of the Democratic Party, declared he was against the referendum plan, saying his party was "elected to fight for the public".

The government's and pro-Beijing parties' response

The government and the pro-Beijing parties called the plan meaningless, saying it would waste taxpayers' money. The Liberal Party (自由黨) and the DAB (民建聯), which had planned to field candidates to contest the seats, ultimately refrained from doing so. Donald Tsang (曾蔭權), who was then Chief Executive, declared he would not vote in the by-elections.

Later developments

The de-facto referendum was triggered by controversy over consitutional reform. Under the government's original proposal, five geographical-constituency seats and five functional-constituency seats would be created. However, only elected District Councillors could vote in the elections for the latter.

Unhappy with the proposal, the Democratic Party entered into negotiations with the Liaison Office of the Chinese government (中聯辦). A deal was reached between them. The government subsequently incorporated the party's suggestion into its proposal, under which the five new functional-constituency lawmakers would be elected by the 3.2 million citizens who did not have the right to vote in the existing functional-constituency elections. Supported by the Democratic Party and the pro-Beijing parties, the proposal went through Legco in June 2010.

The Democratic Party, however, was criticised for "betraying" voters. Pro-democracy parties like People Power (人民力量) vowed to target the Democratic Party in upcoming elections. Some members of the Democratic Party unhappy with the decision left it to form the Neo Democrats (新民主同盟).

The by-elections also led to the controversy over the government's plan to "close the loopholes". Under the original plan, if a lawmaker resigned his seat, no by-election would be held, and his seat would be taken by the candidate on the list that garnered the second-highest vote in the last election. Most citizens are against the plan, called a "replace mechanism" (遞補機制). The government subsequently suggested that resigning lawmakers be barred from standing in any by-election for half a year. The proposal went through Legco in June 2012.