Fergus Leung Fong-wai (; born 3 April 1997) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

politician formerly serving as a member of the

Central and Western District Council The Central and Western District Council is the district council for the Central and Western District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Central and Western District Council currently consists of 15 members, of which the district ...

, representing Kwun Lung. Leung ran as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

localist Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and Local purchasing, consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture ...

in the 2019 District Council elections and won his seat with 50.69% of the vote.

Career

Leung developed an interest in politics at high school, and took part in Hong Kong's 2014

Umbrella Movement The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police's use of pepper spray to dispe ...

as a teenager. He studied

biomedicine Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

at the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

, where he served as the external affairs secretary of the

student union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

. In July 2019, Leung was spurred by the ongoing Hong Kong protests to run for a position on his local District Council. As a first-time candidate competing against the

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

Yeung Hoi-wing, Leung won the seat in Kwun Lung, which had been considered a pro-establishment stronghold, represented by the same political party since 2007. His election win was amid record

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

throughout the city, which Leung described as "a milestone in Hong Kong's

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

movement". In June 2020, Leung announced his intention to run in the

2020 Hong Kong legislative election The 2020 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was originally scheduled on 6 September 2020 until it was postponed by the government. On 31 July 2020, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that she was invoking the Emergency Regulations Ordinan ...

. He connected with fellow

candidates Sam Cheung and Owen Chow, where they signed a joint statement agreeing to promote the protest movement's demands if elected. In the pro-democracy primaries for the

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

constituency, Leung took third place with 14,743 votes, after

Ted Hui Ted Hui Chi-fung ( zh, t=許智峯; born 8 June 1982) is a Hong Kong politician. He formerly represented the Chung Wan constituency in the Central and Western District Council, and formerly he was the Legislative Councillor for the Hong Kong ...

and

Tiffany Yuen Tiffany Yuen Ka-wai ( zh, link=no, t=袁嘉蔚; born 30 September 1993) is a Hong Kong activist and politician, who has been a member of the Southern District Council for Tin Wan (constituency), Tin Wan since 2020. She was the vice chairperso ...

, securing him a nomination spot in the general election. On 30 July, weeks before the general election, the government stated that Leung was among a dozen pro-democracy candidates whose nominations were 'invalid'. His disqualification was determined by an opaque process where

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral c ...

s nominally assessed whether Leung had objected to the enactment of the national security law, and was sincere in statements made disavowing

separatism Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

. On 6 January 2021, Leung was among 55 members of the pro-democratic camp who were arrested under the national security law, specifically its provision regarding subversion. The group stood accused of organising and participating in unofficial primary elections held by the camp in July 2020. Leung was released on bail on 7 January. On 30 April 2021, he resigned as a district councillor after he was charged under the national security law.

References

Living people Independent politicians in Hong Kong District councillors of Central and Western District Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Hong Kong democracy activists 1997 births Hong Kong political prisoners {{HongKong-politician-stub