Student activist Nathan Law Kwun-chung, 23, has been elected as Hong Kong’s youngest-ever legislator, winning 50,818 votes in Sunday’s polls to win one of six seats in the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency of the Legislative Council.
Law, a co-founder of the group Demosisto, trailed only top vote-getter Regina Ip of the New People’s Party, who amassed 60,760 votes.
But even though most pre-election polls pointed to a relatively easy win for media tycoon Ricky Wong who ran as an independent, he was left on the outside looking in – falling around 2,000 votes short.
Law said he feels both happy and nervous, as he was entering “a new stage of his life” which is going to be a great challenge. He said voters showed that they trusted that he can propel the democratic movement in a new direction. Law – whose group has called for a referendum in ten years’ time to determine Hong Kong’s future – promised to initiate discussions on the topic in the council.
The remaining four seats went to candidates who picked up the torch from their colleagues. The Horace Cheung from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and the Federation of Trade Union’s Kwok Wai-keung won on the pro-government side, replacing Christopher Chung and Wong Kwok-hing.
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