Professionals Guild

The Professionals Guild (Chinese: 專業議政) was a pro-democracy parliamentary group in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. All legislators in the group were elected through professional sectors in the Functional Constituencies. The group was active between the 2016 Legislative Council election and the mass-resignation of pro-democracy legislators in 2020.

Professionals Guild
專業議政
ConvenorDennis Kwok (Civic)
Founded26 September 2016 (2016-09-26)
IdeologyLiberalism (Hong Kong)
Political positionCentre
Regional affiliationPro-democracy camp
Legislative Council (2017-20)
6 / 70
Website
www.facebook.com/pg/professionalsguild/

Overview

The Professionals Guild in Hong Kong was formed in 2016 by six pro-democracy functional constituency legislators after the 2016 Legislative Council election, which saw the pro-democrats increase their seats in the professional sectors. Membership of the group was not mutually exclusive against other political party membership.[1] It became one of the four main pro-democracy parliamentary groups in the Legislative Council in the 2016-20 session, the others being the Democratic Party, Civic Party and Council Front formed by directly elected pro-democracy individuals.[2]

At its peak, the group held seven seats in the legislature at its peak with Dennis Kwok of the Legal constituency, Kenneth Leung of Accountancy, Charles Mok of Information Technology, Edward Yiu of Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape, Ip Kin-yuen of Education, Shiu Ka-chun of Social Welfare and Joseph Lee of Health Services.[1] Edward Yiu was disqualified in 2017 due to the oath-taking controversy; he ran in a geographical constituency in consequent by-elections but lost.[3]

One of the major tasks of the group was coordinating the pro-democracy "Democrats 300+" election campaign in the 2016 Election Committee Subsector elections. The victory in the Legislative Council functional constituencies in the 2016 election encouraged the pro-democrats to take a more progressive strategy in the professional sector, in which the pro-democrats traditionally had more advantages.[4][5]

Dennis Kwok and Kenneth Leung were dismissed from the LegCo on 11 November 2020, following the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress decision that LegCo Members should be disqualified if they support Hong Kong independence, refuse to acknowledge China's sovereignty, ask foreign forces to interfere in the city's affairs or in other ways threaten national security. Kwok and Leung were amongst 4 LegCo members who were dismissed; all are considered moderates and have never publicly supported Hong Kong independence. Dennis Kwok said "If observing due process and fighting for democracy can lead to being disqualified, it [disqualification] will be my honour," Following this 15 other pro-democracy LegCo members have resigned between November and December 2020, including all remaining Professionals Guild LegCo members at the time.[6]

Legco representatives

The Professionals Guild held seven seats in LegCo at its peak in 2016-17.

ConstituencyMemberOther political affiliation First elected Left office
EducationIp Kin-yuenPTU 2012 election Resigned 1 Dec 2020
LegalDennis KwokCivic 2012 election Disqualified 11 Nov 2020
Health ServicesJoseph Lee(none) 2004 election Resigned 1 Dec 2020
AccountancyKenneth LeungProfessional Commons 2012 election Disqualified 11 Nov 2020
Information TechnologyCharles MokProfessional Commons 2012 election Resigned 1 Dec 2020
Social WelfareShiu Ka-chun(none) 2016 election Resigned 1 Dec 2020
Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape Edward Yiu (none) 2016 election Disqualified in 2017

See also

References
  1. 隔牆有耳：李國麟加盟專業議政 2016-10-19 蘋果日報
  2. "【專欄】泛民召集人換屆 楊岳橋接任？". 頭條日報. 2019-08-12.
  3. 隔牆有耳：李國麟加盟專業議政 2016-10-19 蘋果日報
  4. 專業議政與民主派專業界別開會 協調選委會選舉
  5. "Hong Kong's pan-democrats hope to play 'kingmaker' in election to choose city's next leader". South China Morning Post. 26 September 2016.
  6. "Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers resign after China ruling". BBC News. 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
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