Hong Kong sees lowest turnout ever of just 30% for its sham election: Pro-China candidates sweep to victory after Beijing ensured only ‘patriots’ could run the city
- Just 20 of Hong Kong’s 90 lawmakers were directly elected, and all 90 candidates had to be vetted for ‘patriotism’ before being selected
- Voter turnout dropped to just 30 per cent despite 90 per cent being registered
- City leader Carrie Lam, who is pro-Beijing, said she was ‘satisfied’ with result
Pro-China candidates have swept to power in Hong Kong elections even as turnout dropped to its lowest level in more than two decades after opposition politicians were largely banned from running.
Under new laws enforced by Beijing, most lawmakers were directly appointed after being vetted by a largely pro-China committee to ensure they are ‘patriots’.
Just 20 of the city-state’s 90 politicians were directly elected, also after being vetted.
Opposition parties fielded no candidates for the first time since the 1997 handover of power from Britain, while voter turnout dropped to just 30 per cent – its lowest figure since the handover.
Pro-China politicians have swept to power in Hong Kong’s elections, dubbed a ‘sham’ after Beijing introduced new laws meaning all candidates had to be vetted for ‘patriotism’
Voter turnout dropped to just 30 per cent, its lowest since the 1997 handover of power from Britain, despite more than 90 per cent of people being registered to vote
Despite that, city leader Carrie Lam said she was ‘satisfied’ with the election and that, if people chose not to vote, that was a matter for them
She said the number of registered voters reached 92.5 per cent, a record high compared to 2012 and 2016 elections when around 70 per cent of voters registered.
‘For registered voters, deciding whether they want to exercise their voting rights in a particular election is entirely a matter for themselves,’ she said.
‘In this election, 1.35 million voters cast their votes. They did not just return candidates of their choice to LegCo [the city’s parliament], and I think it was also because of their support for the improved electoral system,’ said Lam, referring to the city’s Legislative Council.
Under the new laws, the number of directly elected lawmakers was reduced from 35 to 20, even as the legislature was expanded from 70 to 90 seats.
Most of the lawmakers were appointed by largely pro-Beijing bodies, ensuring that they make up the majority of the legislature.
All candidates were also vetted by a largely pro-Beijing committee before they could be nominated.
Lam said that even if there was a high turnout rate based on ‘poor politics,’ such as the political polarization during the period of political strife in 2019, that is ‘not something we should be glad to have.’
The opposition camp has criticized the elections, with the largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party, fielding no candidates for the first time since the 1997 handover.
Lam said she expects that work with the 90 legislators would continue to be ‘very exciting’ because they have different opinions on many social issues.
Lam is expected to travel to Beijing later Monday on a duty-reporting trip, which she says is to give a full account to Beijing on the latest political and economic situation in Hong Kong.
‘I expect to cover a wide range of issues on this particular duty visit because through two very decisive acts of the central authorities, Hong Kong is now back on the right track of `one country, two systems,’ she said.
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