An Olympic-gold-medal-winning fencer has declared her candidacy in the upcoming legislative election. Since she possesses a Canadian passport (which she claimed that she would relinquish), she cannot run in the district constituency. Instead she entered the race to represent the tourism constituency, which allows holders of foreign passwords to run. (Her opponent is an owner of a tour agency.) She retired from fencing after her Gold medal run in the Paris Games. Since then she has worked in mid-level management in the Jockey Club. In her application to stand for election, she justified her eligibility by claiming that she, as an athlete, invited her fellow competitors to visit the city and her current employer is a major proponent of "horse-racing tourism". (Of course, there is no way the electoral officer would disqualify her from running, even though her connections to the tourism sector are frankly tenuous at best.)
After she announced her candidacy, netizens posted how they would be eligible to run in various functional constituencies by claiming their connections to each — "if she is eligible, so am I." After some thought, I realized that, based on her reasoning, there are multiple functional constituencies which I can stand for election.
| Constituency | How I am eligible? | Heung Yee Kuk | Visited offices of rural village chief during site visits | Insurance |
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Transport |
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Education |
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Legal | Conducted business with lawyers during property purchase | Accountancy | Prepared own tax return | Medical And Health Service | Patient of practitioners of medical and health services | Engineering | Joined societies considered as professional by engineering firms | Architectural, Surveying and Planning | Provided environmental advice on planning projects | Labour | Member of the largest trade union through interest class enrolment | Social Welfare | Helped family members complete application for old-age benefits | Real Estate and Construction |
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Tourism | Provided recommendations places to visit to both locals and visitors | Commercial (1st/2nd/3rd) | Past employee of members of chamber of commerce | Industrial (1st/2nd) | Provided technical input on industrial product development | Finance |
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Financial Services |
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Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication |
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Import and Export | Brought local souvenirs for foreign visits and foreign souvenirs back upon return | Textiles and Garment | Worked at a garment distribution warehouse for a day | Wholesale and Retail |
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Catering |
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HKSAR members of NPC and CPPCC, representatives of national organisations | Not sure if I have any connections to this sector. A member may live in the same estate as me |
Unlike the fencer, there is no way electoral officers would accept my justification to stand for election in any functional constituency. It is indeed, as her boss says, better to be well-connected than well-read.