Hong Kong’s last major pro-democracy party moves to disband

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s Democratic Party said late on Thursday that it would start preparations to disband and wind up its affairs after a meeting of its leadership, amid a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled city.

Founded in 1994 in the run-up to the city’s return from British to Chinese rule in 1997, the Democratic Party grew into the largest and most successful opposition party — garnering strong public support in city-wide elections — and has long been a key symbol of the city’s freedoms and plurality.

Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei said the party’s members still needed to vote on the dissolution to make it final at a future meeting, with a 75% majority required from the members in attendance.

“Developing democracy in Hong Kong is always difficult, and it’s especially difficult in the past few years,” Lo told reporters in the party’s headquarters. “This is not what we wanted to see.”

When asked about political pressure, Lo said the decision was made after careful consideration of the “overall political environment.” He noted, however, that the party’s finances remained relatively sound and the party could keep going for longer if need be.

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Under Hong Kong’s so-called One-Country, Two Systems arrangement, the city is promised a high degree of autonomy and freedoms under Chinese rule, but in recent years, authorities have used the security laws to arrest scores of democrats and shutter civil society groups and liberal media outlets.

An overhaul of the electoral system in 2021 to ensure only pro-China “patriots” can govern Hong Kong also effectively shut the democrats out from the political arena, marginalizing them further.

The crackdown has drawn international criticism from countries such as the U.S., Britain, Australia and Canada. Hong Kong and Chinese authorities, however, say the security laws have restored stability to the financial hub.

On July 1, 1997, the day of Hong Kong’s handover to China, one of the founders of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee, famously stood on the balcony of the Legislative Council building in a symbolic act of defiance.

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“We believe that people everywhere share our love of freedom and democracy and that these values will ultimately triumph,” he said at the time, striking a hopeful note amid the uncertainty.

Since Lee was convicted for an unauthorized assembly charge in 2021, however, he has rarely spoken publicly.

Several of the party’s members, former lawmakers Wu Chi-wai, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Andrew Wan, have been jailed after being convicted in a landmark subversion case involving 47 of the city’s leading democrats. Another member, Ted Hui, was driven into exile with a bounty of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($130,000) placed on his head.

The Civic Party, Hong Kong’s second-largest pro-democracy political party, was dissolved in 2023. A few of its members have also been jailed under the national security law, including Alvin Yeung and Jeremy Tam.