As the 90 members of the eighth Legislative Council term will take their oaths tomorrow, the incoming lawmakers attended a closed-door rehearsal of the oath-taking ceremony at the chamber on Tuesday.
The lawmakers did not answer any questions from the reporters after the rehearsal, which lasted for around one and a half hours. When asked whether she would take up the post of Legislative Council president, veteran politician Starry Lee Wai-king – who also serves on the National People’s Congress Standing Committee – said there were no updates yet from her.
The newly elected members gathered in the Legislative Council in the middle of this month to participate in a two-day briefing. During the briefing, they also watched a demonstration of the oath-taking ceremony and staff from the Secretariat took the stage to demonstrate.
All lawmakers were required to come forward for this year’s rehearsal to prevent any slip-ups during the formal oath-taking. Sources said strict accuracy standards have been imposed on this year’s oath-taking, and more than a dozen lawmakers were asked to redo their oath even though they only mispronounced a single word.
According to sources, third-term lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu strode up confidently during the rehearsal intending to recite from memory without his “cheat sheet,” but forgot the words halfway through.
In the tourism sector, incoming lawmaker Vivian Kong Man-wai reportedly passed the rehearsal in one take, but because her voice is on the softer side and she is relatively tall, she was reminded to speak up and raise the microphone to ensure proper pickup.
Earlier on Monday, she said she would take up a role as an adviser to the Jockey Club to help promote horse-racing tourism after her swearing-in. She did not answer media questions before the rehearsal, offering only a smile and a wave.
