Joshua Wong, a prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, yesterday applied to run in the embattled city’s legislative elections in September. Only half of the seats in the city’s legislature are elected but pro-democracy politicians will hope to do well and influence the city’s political trajectory.
Wong is only 23 but has been involved in pro-democracy activism for the last six years and was a prominent leader in the city’s 2014 protests.
He has previously been banned from standing in elections for the city’s government and it is expected that candidates will again be barred from standing, Wong among them.
Wong may face a prison sentence as China has claimed he has breached the new Hong Kong security law, which Beijing defines as ’as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison’. Wong has travelled abroad to build support for the city’s pro-democracy movement and he has refused to sign a document which pledges allegiance to Hong Kong and its constitution, the Basic Law. All candidates for the legislature are required to pledge allegiance through either signing the document or in another way, which Wong has not done.
The activist was also involved in unofficial opposition primaries which many saw as a protest against Beijing’s involvement in Hong Kong.
Said Wong: ‘With the possibility of facing a life sentence … I still hope to receive people’s mandate and let the world know that we will continue to fight until our last breath.’
Image: Wikimedia Commons