Hong Kong: 23-year-old protester elected as youngest lawmaker

Nathan law, 23, has been elected as the youngest lawmaker in Hong Kong.

Voters flew in from around the world, lined up until the early hours and turned out in record numbers to elect the city’s parliament Sunday.

The poll for the Legislative Council is the first major election since hundreds of thousands took to the streets for the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement that shut down parts of the city, a special administrative region of China.

The poll for the Legislative Council is the first major election since hundreds of thousands took to the streets for the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement that shut down parts of the city, a special administrative region of China.

Several prominent Umbrella Movement protesters were elected across Hong Kong, including Nathan Law, who co-founded Demosisto with activist Joshua Wong, who was unable to run as he is not yet 21.

Law, who at 23 will be Hong Kong’s youngest ever lawmaker, described his win as a “miracle.”

“This is absolutely unexpected, nobody imagined this would happen,” he told reporters after results were announced.

Demosisto advocates for a referendum to be held on Hong Kong’s future after 2047 — when current constitutional arrangements run out, and for that poll to include the option of independence from China.

The debate over Hong Kong independence has defined the election, with several candidatesbarred from running for allegedly breaking electoral rules by advocating separation from China.

Edward Leung, one of those banned, urged his supporters to elect similarly minded “localist” politicians, and threw his weight behind them.

“They took one seat from us, we’ll win three seats back,” he told CNN ahead of Sunday’s vote, a prediction that largely seems to have panned out, with Leung-endorsed Youngspiration candidates Sixtus Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching both winning seats.

Eddie Chu, a 38-year-old environmental activist, whose unexpected landslide election in New Territories West was the story of the night, told reporters Monday that Hong Kongers have chosen “democratic self-determination.”

Independence from China, once unthinkable, should be an option in future, he said,according to the South China Morning Post, adding that he would work with similarly-minded lawmakers towards this direction.