Lo Kin-hei

Lo Kin-hei
羅健熙
Lo in 2018
Chairman of the Democratic Party
Assumed office
6 December 2020
Preceded byWu Chi-wai
Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Party
In office
16 December 2012 – 6 December 2020
ChairpersonEmily Lau
Wu Chi-wai
Preceded byEmily Lau
Sin Chung-kai
Succeeded byLam Cheuk-ting
Edith Leung
Member of the Southern District Council
In office
1 January 2012 – 10 July 2021
Preceded byWong Che-ngai
ConstituencyLei Tung II
Personal details
Born (1984-06-01) 1 June 1984 (age 40)
Hong Kong
Political partyDemocratic Party
Alma materUniversity of Hong Kong (BSW)
OccupationSocial worker
District councillor

Lo Kin-hei (Chinese: 羅健熙; born 1 June 1984) is the Chairman of the Democratic Party and Southern District Council. He has been a Southern District Councillor for Lei Tung II constituency from 2012 to 2021.

Career

Born in 1984, Lo graduated from the University of Hong Kong with the Bachelor of Social Work in 2006.[1][2] He is a registered social worker.[3] He joined the Democratic Party and first contested in the 2007 District Council elections, contesting in the Lei Tung II constituency covering the Lei Tung Estate in Ap Lei Chau.[1] He lost by a narrow margin of 27 votes. He contested in the same constituency in the next District Council elections in 2011 and succeeded in taking a seat with 2,346 votes.[4]

He was also member of the pan-democratic candidate list "Demo-Social 60" in the 2011 Election Committee Subsector election for the Social Welfare Subsector and was elected.

In the party leadership election in December 2012, Lo was elected as Vice-Chairman with his senior Richard Tsoi, becoming the youngest Vice-Chairman in party's history.

After the 2019 District Council election, Lo called the vote in effect a "vote of no-confidence" in the political establishment, including Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, and key Chinese officials such as Zhang Xiaoming, head of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.[5]

On 15 July 2020, Lo was arrested at his home, and later released on bail, for having participated in an unauthorized protest outside Hong Kong Polytechnic University on 18 November 2019. The university campus had been the venue of major confrontations between protesters and police at that time. Lo and four others were arrested on the same day in relation to the protest, all of whom were scheduled to appear before the courts on 21 August.[6] On 30 November 2022, a district judge ruled that the evidence to prove that Lo had knowingly participated in an unauthorized protest was insufficient and acquitted him of the charge. The Department of Justice filed an appeal against the verdict. Lo was rearrested on 7 December 2022, and released after having settled his bail conditions, including surrendering his travel documents.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Tsoi, Grace (17 November 2011). "The Future of the Democratic Party".
  2. ^ "LO Kin Hei". The Democratic Party.
  3. ^ "Member Details of Southern District Council". Southern District Council. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  4. ^ "2011 District Councils Election - Election Results (Southern)". www.elections.gov.hk. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Fresh headache for China after Hong Kong democrats rout pro-Beijing candidates". Reuters. 25 November 2019. Archived from the original on November 25, 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  6. ^ Ho, Kelly (15 July 2020). "Hong Kong Democratic Party vice-chair Lo Kin-hei arrested for protest last November". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  7. ^ Ho, Kelly (7 December 2022). "Hong Kong Democratic Party chair barred from leaving city as justice dept. appeals acquittal in 2019 protest case". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
Political offices
Preceded by Member of Southern District Council
Representative for Lei Tung II
2012–2021
Vacant
Preceded by Chairman of Southern District Council
2020–2021
Vacant
Party political offices
Preceded by Vice Chairperson of Democratic Party
2012–2020
Served alongside: Richard Tsoi, Andrew Wan, Li Wing-shing
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairperson of Democratic Party
2020–present
Incumbent