Hong Kong people largely shunned the ballot box on Sunday for the renewal of their city’s Legislative Council under a new process imposed by Beijing, which drastically reduced the number of seats filled by universal suffrage and reserved the right to be candidate for “patriots” loyal to China.
The turnout, at 30%, is the lowest since the handover of Hong Kong to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, and even since the first direct election of members of the Legislative Council in 1991.
The final results are expected Monday today.
The chief electoral officer in that territory, Barnabas Fung, said that only 1,350,680 of the 4,472,863 registered voters had voted to appoint the 20 members elected by universal suffrage out of the 90 in the Legislative Council (the “LegCo”) . The remaining 70 members are chosen by several committees made up of political elites acquired in the Chinese regime.
In the previous election, in 2016, the turnout was 58.3%. The Council then had 70 members, half appointed directly by the voters.
This year, to be allowed to run for a seat, each of the 153 candidates had to give pledges of “patriotism” and political loyalty to China.
As a result, democracy activists have been prevented from running or have renounced when they are not in prison or on the run abroad. Several of them who live in exile had called for a boycott of the ballot box.
Those excluded from the ballot “are these traitors who would not have acted for the general good of Hong Kong”, launched Sunday the number two government of this territory, John Lee.
The participation rate, a thermometer of the adherence of Hong Kongers to the new electoral system, was therefore particularly expected.
It is legal in Hong Kong to abstain or to vote blank or null. On the other hand, to encourage these practices constitutes since this year a criminal offense, for which 10 people were arrested.
The new rules were imposed by Beijing as part of Hong Kong’s takeover after the massive democracy protests of 2019.
Free transport
The government had advertised pages in newspapers, distributed leaflets in mailboxes and sent massive text messages to encourage Hong Kong people to vote. Public transport was free on Sunday.
The low turnout is “extremely embarrassing” for the government, said Kenneth Chan, a political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University. “Most of the voters defending democracy have decided to abstain, to express their disapproval,” he told AFP.
Ahead of the poll, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said a low turnout “wouldn’t mean anything.”
“When the government does things well and its credibility is strong, voter turnout is lower because people do not really feel the need to choose new representatives,” she assured Chinese state media.
Recent independent polls put Ms. Lam’s popularity rating at around 36%. While going to vote on Sunday, the head of the executive was questioned by three activists from a party in favor of democracy who demanded “real universal suffrage”.
The “LegCo” is the body responsible for passing laws in the former British colony of 7.5 million inhabitants, whose legal system remains distinct from that of mainland China.
Even if the majority of Council seats were still given to established figures in Beijing, a minority of opponents was once tolerated there, which made it a place of often very heated debate. The new rules imposed by Beijing put an end to this tradition.
“Anti-Chinese” elements
Dozens of pro-democracy opposition figures – a number of whom were elected in previous elections in 2016 – have been disqualified, are currently in jail under a draconian “national security” law imposed by Beijing. last year or have fled abroad.
Beijing says this “improved” electoral system will eradicate “anti-Chinese” elements and ensure that the “LegCo” will pass the new laws more quickly.
“People don’t want to vote for a recording chamber and then pretend it’s all right,” Nathan Law, a former LegCo member who lives in exile in London, tweeted Sunday. “This is a bogus election and the worst setback in our electoral system,” added another opponent, Brian Leung, a refugee in the United States.