A Hong Kong court overturned a government decision to ban pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow from the legislative elections on Monday, saying that the officer in charge of the election did not give her a fair opportunity to respond.
High Court judge Anderson Chow wrote that there was a “breach of the principle of natural justice or procedural fairness,” because the government electoral officer disqualified Chow without giving her a reasonable opportunity to respond.
A government electoral officer – known as a Returning Officer – disqualified Chow from running in the March 2018 legislative by-election because of her affiliation with Demosisto, a group which supports self-determination for Hong Kong people. The returning officer said Chow would not be able to uphold the city’s Basic Law and pledge allegiance to Hong Kong.

Agnes Chow. File Photo: inmediahk.net.
Chow’s replacement candidate, independent candidate Au Nok-hin ultimately won the by-election. Chow then filed an election petition last May to challenge her disqualification.
On Monday, the judge ruled in Chow’s favour, saying that there was no dispute that the returning officer “did not give Ms Chow any reasonable opportunity to respond” to the materials used to decide she was ineligible.
“The Returning Officer’s failure to do so is contrary to the principle of natural justice or procedural fairness, which is applicable to a decision on whether a nomination as a candidate in a Legislative Council election is valid or not,” the judge wrote.

File photo: Holmes Chan/HKFP.
“Even if the Returning Officer considered that she had clear and cogent evidence that Ms Chow did not genuinely and truthfully intend to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR, she should still have given Ms Chow an opportunity to refute such evidence and explain her position with a view to persuading the Returning Officer to come to a different conclusion.”
The High Court judge wrote that the right to be heard is “an important procedural safeguard which should not be lightly displaced,” and that Chow’s case had no particular urgency for the returning officer to deny Chow an opportunity to respond.
Chow will meet the press at 12:30pm outside the court building.
More to follow.
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