Public complaints are on the rise after the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) refused to grant requests for voting arrangement changes that will allow pregnant women, the elderly, and movement-challenged residents to cast their ballots ahead of others in the upcoming Legislative Council (LegCo) election.

Such demands emerged after some senior citizens, pregnant women and people with disabilities gave up trying to vote in the District Council elections in November because of long lines. Conceivably, many residents have voiced their support for setting up “caring queues” or “priority queues” at polling stations in the spirit of humanitarianism as well as the time-honored Chinese tradition of caring for the elderly. The EAC’s multipoint explanation for not caring so much boils down to one word: “controversial”.

It puzzled many that giving priority to the needy is “controversial”. Aren’t “priority seats” commonplace in buses, trains, and ships in all civilized societies, including Hong Kong? Indeed, a mark of a civilized society is that it looks after its weakest members. The EAC owes the public an answer.

Like “priority seats”, the idea of setting up “priority queues” at poll stations is sparing pregnant women, the elderly, and physically challenged people from the burden of having to wait for a long time before they can cast a vote.

The EAC turned down the public’s demand for “priority queues” after members of the opposition camp raised a strong objection to the demand. Democratic Party Chairman Wu Chi-wai welcomed the EAC’s decision not to set up “priority queues”, praising it for using “common sense” and “sticking to past practices”. Does he mean caring for the needy is neither common sense nor a universally cherished practice?

The ugly fact is, the opposition camp wants to discourage senior citizens from casting a vote by requiring them to endure long lines and waiting times, therefore depriving them of their right to vote, because of the general perception that the elderly tend to support pro-establishment candidates.

Caring for the needy is common sense and a matter of course. Yet politics has made members of the opposition camp lose their sense, and lowered their intelligence and moral standards. They are so desperate for power that they no longer see any need to pretend that they are bound by good customs and moral norms — not even common sense.