Survey: 60 percent say banned election candidates should leave LegCo

About 60 percent of Hong Kong people said that members of the city's legislature who were banned from running for reelection should not be allowed to serve out the extended one-year term of the Legislative Council, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The survey came on the same day as 14 opposition lawmakers announced they would stay in the legislature for the extended term. Four of those lawmakers were disqualified from contesting LegCo seats in July.

On July 30, four incumbent lawmakers were among 12 people to be disqualified from contesting LegCo seats. In view of the pandemic, the government announced the following day that it would postpone the LegCo election, originally scheduled on Sept 6, for at least a year. The current legislature was then allowed to stay on to avoid a legislative vacuum.

The survey also shows almost 60 percent of 2,007 interviewees agreed that people who are opposed to the city’s National Security Law should not be eligible to run for LegCo.

According to those surveyed, 63.7 percent of interviewees said Hong Kong has a responsibility to safeguard national security.

The telephone survey, between Sept 23 and Sept 28, was conducted by a local public opinion research center entrusted by the research entity under the Hong Kong-based Bauhinia Magazine.