Following China’s delay of Hong Kong’s legislative elections, opposition lawmakers face a defining choice: Keep playing by Beijing’s rules? Or quit and join the radicals in the streets?
The 22 opposition members of the city’s elected Legislative Council are under intense pressure from their supporters to resign en masse before the body reconvenes next month for an extra year. Radical activists argue that staying on would legitimize Beijing’s decision to postpone the election originally planned for Sept. 6 — when the pro-democracy bloc had hoped to win an unprecedented majority on the body.
"I oppose any course of action that’s not consistent with holding an election and getting a renewed mandate from the people,” said lawmaker Raymond Chan, who dismissed the upcoming session as "illegal.” "I do not accept Beijing’s appointment.”