Hong Kong District Council race: Youth-focused party vows to rebuild trust in society, as 5 candidates eye seats
Hong Kong Free Press
Nascent political party New Prospect for Hong Kong has announced plans to send five candidates to run in the upcoming District Council election. The party, founded amid the 2019 extradition bill unrest, said it would seek the support of young voters and vowed to “mend the rift” in the city.
Led by the party’s sole lawmaker Gary Zhang, New Prospect announced on Thursday that it would send five candidates – all with no prior election experience – to run in the geographical constituencies in four districts in December’s general election. They were Yanki Chan, Sharon So, Koby Wong, Billy Li and Henry Ma.
Candidates from New Prospect for Hong Kong
| Name | District Council geographical constituency |
| Yanki Chan | Tin Shui Wai South and Ping Ha |
| Sharon So | Wong Tai Sin East |
| Koby Wong | Wong Tai Sin West |
| Billy Li | Wu Tip Shan |
| Henry Ma | Kowloon City South |
The candidates’ diverse background and their passion, together with their experience serving the community, would allow them to secure enough nominations and voter support, the lawmaker said.
Ma, one of the election hopefuls who had engaged in district work in Hung Hom for almost two decades, said the candidates were not completely inexperienced.
“We have zero experience in running in elections, but we have served the communities for a certain period of time. We could combine our expertise and our experience in the districts and find a new direction,” Ma said in Cantonese.
He is currently a member of the Fight Crime Committee, a local government-appointed body which gained new powers to nominate District Council election candidates following the overhaul.
The election will be the first since Hong Kong unveiled plans in May 2023 to overhaul the District Council elections to ensure only “patriots” are elected, following a pro-democracy landslide at the last polls in 2019. The number of seats chosen democratically by the public will be slashed to around 20 per cent, with the rest chosen by the city’s leader, government-appointed committees and officials.
Constituency boundaries will be redrawn and each local council will be chaired by a government official, similar to colonial-era arrangements. All candidates will undergo national security vetting to ensure patriotism.
Zhang, an executive committee member of New Prospect, told reporters on Thursday that the most critical issue Hong Kong had to tackle was trust among citizens, as well as their trust in the establishment.
The party aimed to propose concrete solutions rather than simply airing criticism or making a show of taking a stance, he said, adding the party – established in October 2019 – demonstrated to young people that it “stood behind them,” even on more controversial issues.
“It’s our job to repair the relationship and also to show our young people and society as a whole that it doesn’t have to be like what it used to be in the past,” the legislator said.
Zhang had advocated for Hongkongers whose mainland travel permit was revoked or confiscated after they were arrested or charged in connection with the 2019 protests. He had handled 200 to 300 cases, the legislator said on Thursday, saying he was confident that trust could be rebuilt.
The party’s electioneering activities would be coordinated by former Civic Party district councillor William Li, who was elected in 2019 with 6,450 votes, the highest in the Kwun Tong district. He resigned in July 2021 amid an exodus of pro-democracy councillors ahead of a new oath-taking arrangement for public officers. He also quit the Civic Party, which voted to disband in May this year citing vacancies in its executive committee posts.
He told the press on Thursday that many people were left feeling “lost and helpless” after “many things happened in Hong Kong” in recent years. But as a young man who loved the city dearly, he believed Hong Kong’s society “should not look like this.”
“We want to do something for Hong Kong, to mend the rift that is not visible and let Hong Kong shine again. To mend the rift, we must rebuild trust. Trust is the basis for society to operate, a catalyst for productivity and the momentum to drive innovation and prosperity,” he said in Cantonese.
Li was asked multiple times why he did not enter this year’s race. He told the press that he would concentrate on managing the election campaign for New Prospect and asked reporters to focus on the five candidates. Whether it would be difficult for him to secure nominations from the three committees was “irrelevant,” he said.
Zhang revealed on Thursday that the party’s election funding was set at HK$500,000, and an internal fundraising campaign held earlier had surpassed the amount.
The nomination period of the District Council election will begin next Tuesday and end on October 30.
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