Hong Kong’s political elite choose new members of the city’s Legislative Council on Sunday, under new rules imposed by Beijing that have drastically reduced the number of seats filled by universal suffrage and reserved for “patriots” the right to be candidates .
These local elections are the first to be held according to this new system wanted by Beijing as part of the takeover of Hong Kong after the gigantic pro-democracy demonstrations of 2019.
All Hong Kong people of voting age, or about 4.5 million people out of a total population of 7.5 million, can vote. But only 20 seats out of 90 are to be filled by universal suffrage, half less than under the old system.
The majority of the members of the “LegCo” (40) will be appointed by a committee of 1,500 fervent supporters of Beijing, or the equivalent of 0.02% of the population. The remaining 30 seats will be filled by other committees and economic interest groups equally vested in the Chinese regime.
Each of the 153 candidates had to give pledges of political loyalty and “patriotism” to be allowed to run for office.
As a result, pro-democracy activists have been prevented from running or renounced when they are not imprisoned or on the run abroad. More than a dozen elected in the previous election in 2016 are currently in prison under a draconian “national security” law imposed by Beijing last year, and three have sought refuge abroad.
Eradicate the “anti-Chinese”
Beijing says this “improved” electoral system will eradicate “anti-Chinese” elements, and ensure that the “LegCo”, where debates could once be long and heated, will adopt the new laws more quickly.
The only real unknown in the ballot will therefore be the turnout, a thermometer of the adherence of Hong Kong people to the new system. Pre-election polls predict a record abstention.
“Against the backdrop of the crushing of the pro-democracy movement due to the national security law, it is not surprising that Democrats are absent from this election,” said Kenneth Chan, political scientist at Baptist University from Hong Kong.
“And since they are absent, I fear that most of their supporters will also be absent,” he predicts.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has repeatedly encouraged citizens to vote. But she also said a low turnout “wouldn’t mean anything.”
“When the government does things right and its credibility is strong, voter turnout is lower because people don’t really feel the need to choose new representatives,” she told Chinese state media. .
It is legal in Hong Kong to abstain or to vote blank or null. On the other hand, encouraging these practices constitutes since this year a criminal offense, for which ten people have already been arrested. And arrest warrants have been issued against two activists who called from abroad for a boycott of the poll.
Last week, former student leader Alex Chow told AFP that abstention was “obvious”, and another activist in exile, Sunny Cheung, called the poll a “pseudo-democratic veil”.
On Twitter, some are using the keyword #ReleaseMyCandidate (# LibérézMonCandidat) in support of imprisoned pro-democracy activists.
Authorities in Hong Kong sent warning letters to the Wall Street Journal and the British daily The Times, which had called in editorials to shun the ballot box.
Police plan to deploy more than 10,000 officers on the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday.
Uniform candidates
While in 2016, some candidates did not hesitate to openly advocate for Hong Kong’s self-determination, all of the applicants this year display a similar profile.
In the district of Sheung Shui, near the border with mainland China, opinions are divided.
A 39-year-old woman, who calls herself Pun, says she intends to vote and praises the new system.
“Everything is peaceful now, there are less quarrels, things are pragmatic,” she told AFP.
But others, like the 60-year-old man who says his name is Chan, say they will abstain.
“This year’s election is dominated by fear. In the past, you could vote for the opposition, but now that is no longer possible, ”he says. “Looks like an election in North Korea.