Hong Kong’s main opposition party to dissolve

The leaders of the Hong Kong Democratic Party have announced plans to dissolve what was once the largest opposition group in the city.

The members will soon vote on the final decision on whether to close the 31-year-old, President Lo Kin-Hei said.

The party has been struggling to survive after China’s movements to take energetic measures against dissent in the city following the protests of 2019.

The Government of Beijing and Hong Kong has argued that such movements were necessary for national security.

As part of the repression, Beijing reviewed the voting systems of the former British colony.

The call “Patriots Law” was approved in Hong Kong in 2021 That assured that only people considered as loyal to the communist regime in Beijing could serve as local legislators or councilors in the semi -autonomous territory.

This law effectively prohibited the Democratic Party participating in the elections.

In a press conference of the night night on Tuesday after a party meeting, he said that the party leaders had made the call to decrease according to the “current political situation.”

“Developing democracy in Hong Kong is always difficult, and it is especially difficult in recent years,” Mr.

He did not comment when asked if the decision of the party leaders had been taken under political pressure.

The party has established a working group for the closing process. At least 75% of their members attending an upcoming general meeting will have to approve the move before it is definitive. A date for that meeting has not yet been established.

On Wednesday, the advisor of the government of Hong Kong, Regina IP, accused the Democratic Party to pursue an agenda that opposed China and “causing problems constantly inside and outside Parliament.”

“Therefore, I am not surprised that they have been losing supporters in recent years … The Democratic Party has already reached a dead end,” said Mrs. IP, co-conscious of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, similar to the cabinet.

The Democratic Party was remarkable for having rare direct negotiations with the Link Office, the representation of the Chinese communist government in Hong Kong, in 2010, to discuss plans for more liberal elections.

However, their younger members saw these negotiations as a betrayal. The movement caused a division while the party lost support.

He subsequently regained force and became the most successful opposition political force in the city after acquiring the greatest amount of seats in the 2019 Local Council elections, which took place during the violent anti -government protests.

Several of the members of the Democratic Party, including the prominent prodemocratic figures, Helena Wong, Lam Cheuk-Ting, Wu Chi-Wai and Albert Ho, are between The group of Hong Kong 47 activists imprisoned under the controversial National Security Law.

Another member, former legislator ted hui, Now he lives in Australia in exile and the government of Hong Kong are looking for him for alleged crimes of national security. Earlier this week, a court issued an order to confiscate its assets and money in Hong Kong, which their family and a law firm possess.

In December, Hong Kong stripped the title of Honorary Justice of the Peace of Martin Lee Kc, a key founder of the Democratic Party, after the veteran lawyer lost his appeal against an unauthorized conviction of the Assembly.