January 2022
In my previous diary entry I explained the background to my decision to campaign for a seat in the Legislative Council in the election to be held on 19 December. Political junkies will recall there would be 10 geographic constituencies each returning two members (20), 30 functional constituencies each returning one member (30) and an election committee constituency returning 40 members (40) making a total of 90. I chose to run in the last-named category.
I was able to secure the necessary nominations in each of the five sectors (minimum two, maximum four) actually lining up 3, 3, 2, 2, and 3 respectively. In the end there were a total of 51 candidates for the 40 places available. The odds seemed good, but alas I was unable to prevail, being one of the 11 candidates to fall short. There is a great story to be told about how that outcome arose, but I will not tell it here. It could make for another book, or at least a long section if I ever get round to writing my autobiography.
Suffice to say the period from mid-November to mid-December was filled with the most frenzied election-related activity. I lost count of the number of forums I took part in, the speeches delivered and so on. I remember going to meet the fishermen in Aberdeen, the farmers in Yuen Long, the trade unionists in Tokwawan, the loyalists in North Point, the Chinese medicine folk, the tourism industry, the Employers Federation and so on. It was a fascinating experience and one I enjoyed tremendously. So no regrets despite the expense and less than ideal outcome.
I now return to my previous roles as columnist for the SCMP and radio show co-host with RTHK, starting early this month. But meantime I have opened a new section of my website entitled Election Special to record the various materials we put together and inflicted on the electorate during that frantic five weeks.
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