Voting ended late Sunday, December 19, for Hong Kong elections under new “patriots only” rules implemented by Beijing. The new law drastically reduced the number of directly elected seats and controlled who could run in the city.
Pro-Beijing candidates won a majority of seats in the Legislative Council. Candidates loyal to Beijing defeated moderates and independents in the city’s first public elections. This comes after the passage of a resolution amending the city’s election rules.
During a press conference, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that she was “satisfied” with the elections despite a 30.2% voter turnout. The voter turnout is the lowest since the British government handed Hong Kong over China in 1997.
Lam told the media that registered voters reached 92.5%. It’s a record high compared to the 2012 and 2016 polls, with about 70% registered voters. She added that registered voters’ decision to exercise their voting rights in an election is entirely a matter of personal judgment.
“In the election, 1.35 million people cast their votes. They did not only return candidates of their choice to LegCo (Legislative Council) but also because they support the improved electoral system.” – Carrie Lam.
Lam disclosed that even if there was a high turnout percentage based on “poor politics, like the political polarization during the political conflict in 2019, “not something the Hong Kongers should be proud of.”
On the other hand, the opposition has condemned the recent polls. The biggest pro-democracy party – the Democratic Party, yielded no candidates for the first time since the Hong Kong handover in 1997.
Lam also said she assumes that efforts with the 90 new legislators would continue to be “very exciting”. It’s all because of their different views on social issues. She is scheduled to travel to Beijing on a duty-reporting trip. According to the Chief Executive, she will give a complete account to Beijing regarding the last political and economic situation in Hong Kong.
“I expect to tackle a wide range of issues during this duty visit. The two very decisive acts of the central authorities will put Hong Kong back to one country, two systems,” Carrie Lam said.
“Patriot’s Only” Hong Kong Elections
The 2021 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was conducted on December 19, 2021. It’s for the 7th Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
Under the electoral reform strongly imposed by Beijing, the legislature was expanded from 70 to 90 seats. Directly elected lawmakers reduced from 35 to 20 seats. Most of the lawmakers were appointed by mainly pro-Beijing groups, ensuring that they make up the legislature’s majority. Also, A largely pro-Beijing committee evaluated all candidates before they could be nominated.
Originally scheduled on September 6, 2020, the Hong Kong elections were delayed for more than a year. Authorities cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for such delay. The decision to defer the polls followed a sweeping crackdown on opposition in China’s open city. Mass arrests urged Beijing to introduce a national security law criminalizing subversion, terrorism, secession, and conspiracy with external forces with life imprisonment. The law has been used to pursue politicians, activities, and the media. As a result, most of the city’s pro-democracy politicians are now either in prison or exile.
Despite efforts by the government to increase voter turnout by offering assistance such as free transportation and designation of polling stations at the Chinese border, the election had the lowest turnout of any Legislative Council election in history. The number of invalid votes was also tremendously high. These issues were attributed to a lack of interest in the election by pro-democracy Hong Kongers.
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