Where they stand on the issues – New Territories West

New Territories West candidates answer questions on the issues first-time voters care the most about

Today, in our series on how  candidates responded to the questions first time voters told us they most wanted to ask them, we turn to the hotly contested New Territories West Constituency where 20 lists are vying for nine seats. This is the constituency whose Liberal Party candidate Ken Chow dramatically announced he’d withdraw from the race due to alleged threats. His name will still be on the ballot paper on Sunday and his answers are included in our tables below:

Varsity interviewed 10 first-time voters to come up with the  questions they care about the most. We selected 10, covering political, economic, social and educational issues and sent them to candidates from the five geographical constituencies and the District Council functional constituency. Out of 93 candidate lists, 40 replied. Ricky Wong Wai-kay, Kwok Wai-keung (Federation of Trade Unions) and candidates from the New People’s Party directly refused to answer, while others (including candidates from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong and Youngspiration did not respond or could not be contacted.

Here are the questions we sent to candidates in full:

1. Do you support universal suffrage for Chief Executive without pre-selection of candidates?
2. Do you think it’s reasonable to disqualify candidates based on their political beliefs and platforms?
3. Do you think independence of Hong Kong is practicable?
4. Would you support a second term for Leung Chun-ying as Chief Exectuive?
5. Do you support a government buy-back of the MTR?
6. Do you support a government buy-back of The LINK?
7. Do you think the police force has been abusing its powers in recent years?
8. Do you think the government should issue more hawker licences?
9. Do you support the abolition of the TSA exams for primary three schoolchildren?
10. Do you support think the teaching of Chinese in Putonghua should be a long-term goal for Hong Kong schools?

*No replies were received from the following lists: 03 Ko Chi-fai; 05 Cheng Chung-tai (PSS); 06 Kwong Koon-wan; 07 Michael Tien Puk-sun (NPP); 08 Ho Kwan-yiu; 09 Leung Che-cheung (DAB/NTAS); 13 Kenny Wong Chun-kit (Youngspiration/TSWNF); 14 Alice Mak Mei-kuen (FTU); 16 Chan Han-pan (DAB); 18 Hendrick Lui Chi-hang (Christian to the World); 19 Tong Wing-chi; 20 Eddie Chu Hoi-dick