HONG KONG (AP) — One of Hong Kong’s few remaining pro-democracy parties voted Saturday to disband, joining a growing list of organizations that have dissolved as authorities crack down on dissent.
Civic Party president Alan Leong told reporters the dissolution of the party was “writing on the wall” as there was no one to take over. None of its members in an extraordinary general meeting presented candidacies for executive positions.
Thirty of the 31 members voted in favor of dissolution, with one abstention.
The party, which was founded in 2006, was made up mostly of professionals, lawyers and academics. At its peak, it won six seats in the Hong Kong legislature during the 2012 election and was the city’s second pro-democracy party after the Democratic Party.
Several members were charged with subversion under the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing after mass protests in 2019 demanding political freedoms promised to the semi-autonomous territory after its 1997 handover from Britain.
They were accused of participating in unofficial primaries to pick the best candidates for the legislative elections that would allow the democratic camp to win the majority of seats. Authorities, however, said the primaries were aimed at subverting the government.
In a written statement, Leong thanked “all like-minded people who joined our long walk to democracy during different parts of the journey.”
“Today, the Civic Party bids farewell to Hong Kong,” he wrote. “We hope that the people of Hong Kong will live the moment with a hopeful and not too heavy heart. Live in the truth and believe in tomorrow.”
Since the national security law was passed, the city has seen major changes in its political landscape. Hong Kong’s electoral system was overhauled to ensure that only “patriots” loyal to China could take office, and more than 200 people have been arrested for allegedly committing acts that endanger national security.
Many pro-democracy political organizations in Hong Kong have already disbanded. It includes protest organizer Human Rights Front and the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of China’s Patriotic Democratic Movements, which was behind the annual Tiananmen Square vigil to commemorate the 1989 massacre in Beijing of pro-democracy activists by Chinese soldiers. The vigil has been banned for the past three years.
The city, once a bastion of freedom of speech and expression, has not seen any large-scale pro-democracy protests since 2020.
___
See more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at
