Hong Kong’s Legco president rejects vast majority of pan-democrats’ budget amendments – 24 Apr 2017

• The president of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on 24 Apr 17 dismissed three-quarters of amendments to the government budget, in an apparent bid to cut short the pan-democrats’ planned filibuster.
• Of 742 tabled amendments, Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen admitted just 185. He said the rest were “unintelligible, inaccurate, frivolous or meaningless”.
• Leung said legislator “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, who hoped to fight for a universal pension scheme by dragging out the debate, had proposed 522 amendments alone. The League of Social Democrats legislator only had 28 amendments approved.
• Leung Kwok-hung slammed the president’s ruling. He accused him of seeing the legislature as a body that green-lights whatever bills and motions the administration submits.
• The radical pan-democrat also vowed to consider launching a judicial review against the president’s ruling, as he urged his allies in the legislature to force the issue.
• The legislature will start scrutinising the annual appropriation bill on 26 Apr 17, the first such bill drafted by Paul Chan Mo-po. Chan became financial secretary after his predecessor John Tsang Chun-wah quit to run in the chief executive race, losing to Lam.
• Pan-democrats were planning the shortest filibuster on the budget for five years by filing only 742 amendments in 2017, against the 2,158 amendments they tabled in 2016.

External Link : http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2090080/hong-kongs-legco-president-rejects-vast-majority-pan