Pro-democracy lawmakers display a yellow umbrella and a banner stating "Reopen political reform to protect Hong Kong, never give up to fight for true universal suffrage" after 28 lawmakers voted against the election reforms proposals at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Thursday, June 18, 2015.Vincent Yu/The Associated Press
The Hong Kong government's controversial Beijing-backed election blueprint was defeated in the legislature Thursday but the crucial vote came to a confusing anticlimax as pro-establishment lawmakers walked out just before it began.
After a lengthy debate stretching over two days, 28 lawmakers voted against the proposals, which sparked huge street protests in the southern Chinese city last year.
Eight others voted in favour.
However, in a bizarre scene moments before the vote, most of the pro-establishment lawmakers walked out of the legislature chamber and ended up not casting their votes.
Lawmaker Jeffrey Lam later blamed a "communication gap," explaining that they were waiting for a fellow lawmaker who was ill to return to the chamber. They left even after their request for a 15-minute break was rejected by the legislature president.
The government needed at least 47 of the 70 lawmakers to vote in favour of the proposals.
"If you look at their farcical behaviour, you can't help but feel very sorry for Hong Kong that we are in the hands of such people," pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau said after the vote.
The government had proposed allowing voters to elect the southern Chinese financial hub's top leader starting in 2017, but bowed to Beijing's demand that candidates by screened by a panel of elites, which pro-democracy leaders branded "fake democracy."
Beijing has promised to eventually grant universal suffrage to the city, a special administrative region of China, but the defeat raises the chances of a political stalemate for years to come.
A former British colony, Hong Kong retains its own legal and financial system and civil liberties such as freedom of speech not seen on the mainland. The city has seen its most tumultuous year since Beijing took control in 1997, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets last autumn to protest the central government's election screening requirement.
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam told lawmakers just before the vote that she was "sad and disappointed" knowing that the proposal would be defeated.
"I don't know when democratization can be taken forward," she said. Hong Kong and Beijing officials have said that in the event of a defeat, leaders would continue to be handpicked by the panel of local elites.
Pro-democracy leaders vowed to continue fighting for genuine democracy.
"Today is not the end of the democracy movement," said lawmaker Alan Leong. "Quite the contrary, this is the starting point of another wave of democratic movement."