Path of Democracy Says It Is Not a Political Party, Renames Itself Minds Policy Research Institute to Avoid Misunderstanding
民主思路稱定位非政黨 改名「民思研究所」避誤解
Path of Democracy, established in 2015, was renamed the Minds Policy Research Institute with effect from today. Its convener and Executive Council member Ronny Tong Ka-wah announced yesterday that the name Path of Democracy had led society to misunderstand its positioning and stance, with “many people thinking it was a political party”. He said the renaming clarified that its main focus was policy research, but the institute would not stop its members from standing in the Legislative Council election at the end of the year. Tong will henceforth be known as the institute’s director. He denied deliberately avoiding the word “democracy”, but acknowledged that the term had led people to believe that the organisation had a political inclination. Tong Ka-wah said the organisation had never “sent people to stand for election” and did not oppose members standing: In the District Council election two years ago, only one member of Path of Democracy obtained sufficient nominations to stand, but was ultimately defeated. Tong revealed in March this year that some members wanted to stand in the Legislative Council election. Asked whether the renaming was related to the difficulty of entering the race in the District Council election, Tong said the think tank’s main work was research. He stressed that it had never “sent people to stand for election”, but would not oppose members standing or mentioning their organisation in connection with their political affiliations. If a member asked him to help canvass votes, he would consider it. In the previous Legislative Council election, Path of Democracy worked with Neo Democrats to promote election-related work. Asked whether it had changed course, Tong reiterated that it had never sent anyone to stand for election, but had passively learned that members were standing, and that it had not received any invitation from a political party to form an alliance.
2015年成立的「民主思路」即日起改名「民思政策研究所」。民主思路召集人、行政會議成員湯家驊昨日宣布，由於「民主思路」名稱令社會誤解其定位及立場，「很多人以為是政黨」，因此「正名」，以示研究政策的工作重心，但不會阻止成員出戰年底立法會選舉，而湯則改稱為研究所長。他否認刻意避開「民主」二字，但承認相關字眼曾令人以為他們有政治傾向。 湯家驊：不曾「派人參選」 不反對成員參選 前年區議會選舉，民主思路僅一人獲足夠提名入閘，最後落選，而湯家驊今年3月曾透露有成員欲出戰立法會選舉。被問到改名與區選難入閘有否關係，湯家驊說智庫主要工作是研究，強調不曾「派人參選」，但不會反對成員參選或在政治聯繫提及其組織，若有成員要求他協助拉票，他會考慮。上屆立法會選舉，民主思路與新思維合作推動選舉工作，被問到是否改變路線，湯重申從未派人參選，而是被動獲知有成員參選，目前也沒有收到任何政黨邀請結盟。