Audrey Eu

Infobox LegCo
name=Audrey Eu


chinese name=余若薇
nick name=
constituency=Hong Kong Island
party=Civic Party
pro=liberal, social democracy
previous occupation=Legislative Councillor
Barrister
webpage=eym
website=http://www.audreyeu.org http://www.audreyeu.org|

Audrey Eu (zh-c|c=余若薇), LLB (HKU), LLM (London), SC, JP was born on 11 September 1953 in Hong Kong with family roots in Shanghai. She is a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Geographical constituency, Hong Kong Island) and is currently the party leader of the Civic Party.

Legal career

Eu was called to the Bar in Hong Kong in 1978 and was appointed as a Queen's Counsel (Senior Counsel after 1997) in 1993. She specializes in civil law. Before her entrance into politics, Eu was the chairlady of the Hong Kong Bar Association. She shot prominence on the right of abode issue, at the time of the transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997, she held a firm stance against the interpretation of the Hong Kong's Basic Law by the National People's Congress.

Political career

Eu decided to enter into politics in 2000, and was successful in gaining a Legislative Council seat at a byelection. She then became a founding member of the Basic Law Article 23 Concern Group, which later became the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, then the Civic Party in 2005.

Article 23 Concern Group

In 2002, when the Hong Kong Government wanted to alter the existing Article 23 concerning treason and sedition, Eu, with some other notable members of the Bar, including Alan Leong, Margaret Ng, Ronny Tong, formed the Basic Law Article 23 Concern Group. Before the draft Bill became public, Eu put forward strong opinions and statements opposing certain measures of the Article 23 legislation. Her campaigning helped her significantly raise her public profile after the 1 July 2003, demonstrations.

Article 45 Concern group

Concern started to grow among Hong Kong residents later about Articles 45 and 68 of the Basic Law in 2004. There were also uncertainties concerning the future of the next 2007 Chief Executive election and the next 4th LegCo elections in 2008.

In response, Eu, along with other baristers including Margaret Ng and Ronny Tong, formed the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group that advocated fully democratic processes in the form of universal suffrage in both elections. She found most support with the middle-class.

Eu ran for the 2004 LegCo election for the Hong Kong Island constituency in the same ballot as Cyd Ho from The Frontier. The "Eu-Ho" pair obtained 73,844 votes which resulted in Eu obtaining a seat at the expense of Ho, who lost out to her nearest DAB rival Choy So Yuk by a mere 815 votes. This was seen as a blunder by the pan-democratic camp, as Hong Kong Democratic Party LegCo candidate Martin Lee had more than enough votes to be elected, directly affecting Cyd Ho's election chances.

Civic Party

Eu stood for and was returned in the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency for the Hong Kong legislative election, 2008. She was placed second on the Civic Party ticket, behind newcomer Tanya Chan, who was also elected. After deducting the quotient required for the first seat, the remainder to Eu was only 30,362, enable Eu to win a seat in the constituency with the lowest number of vote. She got 525 votes less than her former running mate in the 2004 election Cyd Ho.

Family

Her younger brother Benjamin Yu is also a senior counsel.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.audreyeu.org Audrey Eu's Personal Website]
* [http://www.article45.org Article 45 Concern Group (in Chinese)]