Au Nok-hin

The Honourable Au Nok-hin
區諾軒
Au in the 2018 Legislative Council by-election
Member of the Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 March 2018
Preceded by	Nathan Law
Constituency	Hong Kong Island
Convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front
In office October 2016 – October 2017
Preceded by	Jimmy Shum
Succeeded by	Sammy Ip
Member of the Southern District Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2012
Preceded by	Wong Che-ngai
Constituency	Lei Tung I
Personal details
Born	(1987-06-18) 18 June 1987 Hong Kong
Political party	Democratic Party (2009–17)
Other political affiliations	Left 21 (2010–14)
Alma mater	Chinese University of Hong Kong
Occupation	District councillor

Au Nok-hin (Chinese: 區諾軒; born 18 June 1987) is a pro-democracy politician in Hong Kong. He is the current member of the Legislative Council for Hong Kong Island since 2018 and current member of the Southern District Council for Lei Tung I since 2011.

Formerly a member of the executive committee of the Democratic Party in which he remained a party member until 2017. He was also a two-time candidate for the Democratic Party chairmanship elections in 2012 and 2014, before he quit the party in 2017. From 2016 to 2017, he was the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front. In the 2018 Legislative Council by-election triggered by oath-taking controversy, he replaced Demosistō candidate Agnes Chow who was disqualified over her alleged pro-independence stance. He was elected with more than 130,000 votes.

Early life and education

Au was born in Hong Kong in 1987 and grew up in Kai Yip Estate in Kowloon Bay. He studied at the Conservative Baptist Lui Ming Choi Primary School and the St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School. He participated in the students' union when he studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and participated in the anti-Express Rail Link protests in 2009 and 2010. He continued his study in a master program in political science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.^[1]

District Council and party politics

Au joined the Democratic Party in 2009 and was first elected to the Southern District Council at the age of 24 in the 2011 District Council election, running in Lei Tung I, a constituency covered the Lei Tung Estate with another young Democrat Lo Kin-hei.^[2]

Au belongs to the progressive spectrum in the party, urging the party to take a more radical stance for upholding the interests and core values of the Hong Kong people. He also opposed party's stance to meet with the Beijing officials in secret. He became the youngest candidate to run in the 2012 party leadership election against the two chairpersons and veteran legislators Emily Lau and Sin Chung-kai, in the wake of Albert Ho's resignation as chairman after the party's disastrous defeat in 2012 Legislative Council election. He received 14 votes, as compared to Lau's 149 votes and Sin's 133 votes.

Au was in James To's ticket in territory-wide District Council (Second) "super seats" in the 2012 Legislative Council election, placing third after To and Andrew Chiu Ka-yin. Although Au was not elected in To's list, his ticket saw To being elected with 316,468 votes, the largest votes a ticket received in Hong Kong's electoral history.

He had a frontline role in the 2014 Hong Kong protests who stormed the "Civic Square", or the forecourt of the Central Government Complex on September 26, in the lead-up to the mass sit-ins. He has also addressed the crowds in Mong Kok some nights.^[3]

In 2014, he challenged the incumbent chairwoman Emily Lau again in the leadership re-election in a four-way contest with legislator Wu Chi-wai and party treasurer Stanley Ng.^[3] He received 33 member votes and was eliminated in the first round.^[4]

Legislative Council bids

Au was tipped to run in the 2016 Legislative Council election in Hong Kong Island with another rising star Chai Man-hon.^[5] However, both Au and Chai did not submit their nominations in the intra-party pre-election primary. Au is planning to run in the Wholesale and Retail functional constituency, a long-time stronghold of the pro-Beijing camp and had been held by the Liberal Party. As he is a partner of his mother's fashion retail company which has two shops and one booth in Sincere Department Store, he is eligible to run in the trade-based constituency.^[6] He received 1,231 votes and was defeated by Liberal Party's Shiu Ka-fai.

From 2016 to 2017, he was the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front. He also ran in the 2016 Election Committee subsector elections and received 561 votes, being defeated by Vincent Fang's ticket.

In 2017, he quit the Democratic Party "to pursue his own political beliefs".^[7] He was later tipped as a candidate for the 2018 Legislative Council Hong Kong Island by-election for the seat left vacant after the disqualification of Nathan Law of Demosistō. Demosistō member Agnes Chow who later became the candidate, was disqualified by the returning officer which led to Au becoming the common candidate of the pro-democracy camp. He was elected with more than 130,000 votes, about 51 per cent of the vote share, defeating Judy Chan of the New People's Party.^[8]

Personal life

He is a Japanese anime fan and hosts an internet radio program about Japanese culture. He also teaches Japanese in the estate he serves. He was married in 2016.^[9]

See also

• Lo Kin-hei

References