Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) legislative by-election candidate Bill Tang has apologised after inadequate postage was paid for mailing one of his election pamphlets.
A resident posted on the “Tai Po” Facebook group on Tuesday night saying that he received a notice to go to the post office and pay HK$4 dollars for a letter since it did not have enough postage. He was unaware that it was an election flyer in the name of Lam Suk-yee, president of the FTU, urging votes for Tang.
“Before I collect the mail at the post office, can I know what the letter is before I pay the fine?” the resident said, adding that a family member collected it.
According to postal rules, Hongkong Post will charge a fine for local mailings which do not have enough postage. The basic postage for regular local letters is currently HK$2.
Tang is running in the New Territories East constituency in the upcoming March 11 by-election, where Tai Po is located. He is a joint candidate for the pro-Beijing FTU and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
One commentator said: “Can you file a complaint to the Registration and Electoral Office?”
Another said: “He is indirectly telling you not to vote for him.”
【特此通知】近日在報章及網上指本會郵寄信件中有個別欠郵資的事件，本會對會員造成不便表示歉意。受影響會員可致電本會，本會將盡快跟進，電話是36525700。香港工會聯合會
Posted by 工聯會 on Tuesday, 20 February 2018
In response, the FTU issued a statement on Facebook apologising to its members for the inconvenience caused.
It urged those affected to call the union and follow up. Tang also apologised.
He told Ming Pao that he understood it was individual volunteers who made careless mistakes and he believed there would not be many other instances of letters with inadequate postage.
Pro-democracy candidate Gary Fan, Tang’s main rival in the election, jokingly changed Tang’s slogan from “Bridging.Sharing” to “Postage.Sharing.”
工聯會無貼郵票寄選舉單張，要人去郵局俾錢攞。點解鄧家彪有錢大賣廣告冇錢俾郵費？#真係好嚴峻喎 #有錢大賣廣告冇錢俾郵費 #范國威 #幾經考驗仍然堅持 #齊撐咖哩飯￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣選舉廣告 自行製作 2018-2-21￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
Posted by 范國威 Gary Fan on Wednesday, 21 February 2018
He also added a line that said: “After paying a HK$4 fine, you must remember I am the no.4 [candidate].”
Other candidates in the constituency include Christine Fong, Nelson Wong, Estella Chan and Joyce Chiu.
