Ronny Tong Ka-wah officially announced his resignation as a legislative councillor and withdrew his Civic Party membership at a press conference on Monday.
“To all Hong Kong people who have supported me…I want to say sorry because – in the last 11 years of work within LegCo – even though I did what I can – I have yet to receive any results,” an emotional Tong told reporters.
“I believe today is the best timing [for my resignation]…if I were to leave at this moment, I believe I would do both the Civic Party and the pan-democrats the least harm.”
Tong explained that it would be “quite wrong” to retain his LegCo seat if he were to withdraw from the party.
“What I intend to do is devote my whole attention to the Path of Democracy and I hope to groom sufficient young people to run for office.”
The effective date of Tong’s resignation as a legislative councillor will be October 1st, when he has completed his duties. Tong says the by-election for his LegCo seat in New Territories East will probably be in March 2016.
In an earlier report, Tong revealed that he was withdrawing from the party due to ideological differences.
