Hong Kong Democrats Boycott Election Stage-Managed by Beijing

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong recorded its lowest ever turnout in legislative elections as voters boycotted an electoral system overhauled by Beijing, delivering a blow to the government’s efforts to legitimize the process.

Voter turnout was 30.2%, according to preliminary government data, compared with a record 58.3% in the previous election. That marked the lowest figure since direct elections began three decades ago, with just 1.35 million people out of almost 4.5 million registered eligible voters casting their ballot. 

Ballot counting began at 11 p.m. and results are expected on Monday.

With the city’s pro-democracy camp locked up, in exile or banned from the race -- and all candidates on the ballot vetted for loyalty to China’s Communist Party -- the election looked very different from previous in the former British colony.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua, in a commentary late Sunday, praised the turnout of over a million voters, saying it crushed “a campaign riddled with lies from external forces while demonstrating the true will of the people in the Chinese city.”

“Certain external forces intent on destabilizing China have gone to great lengths to disrupt the city’s electoral system, going so far as publicly inciting voters to boycott the election or cast a blank ballot,” according to the commentary. “These efforts to interfere in China’s internal affairs have led nowhere.”

Ninety lawmakers were to be elected on Sunday, with the public voting for just 20 of them. Forty others were chosen by a 1,448-member pro-Beijing committee, while the remaining 30 were handpicked by professional groups. Voter turn out among the Election Committee was 98.5%, while the professional groups had a collective rate of 32.2%.

The government had made public transport free Sunday to mobilize voters to the ballot box. Instead, the transport system was flooded with citizens making leisure trips around the city, with attractions such as Ocean Park and Disneyland inundated with visitors. 

The city had earlier postponed the vote, citing Covid-19 restrictions, halting the opposition’s growing success at the ballot box. Hong Kong’s previous legislative election in 2016 gave the pro-democracy camp its greatest-ever share of seats in the chamber after a record turnout. They followed that up with a landslide victory at the 2019 District Council elections, after that year’s mass anti-government protests.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam had denied that the vote was an “all-same-unit” election, saying the 153 candidates standing were from “different political backgrounds.” Her government wanted citizens to validate Beijing’s new system by getting enough people to participate and avoiding the humiliating rebuke of a low turnout.

Ahead of the polls, authorities arrested 10 people for inciting others to cast blank votes, and issued arrest warrants for self-exiled former lawmaker Ted Hui and ex-district councilor Yau Man-chun for the same crime. 

On Saturday, the city’s anti-corruption agency said it had issued warrants for another five people, including former district councilor Lee Hin-long, on the same grounds. All five had left Hong Kong, it said.

“We have the responsibility to explain the characteristics of Hong Kong’s improved electoral system and encourage every registered voter to exercise their civil rights,” Lam told the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper on Dec. 7. She argued that low turnout could indicate satisfaction with the government. 

“Therefore, I think the turnout rate does not mean anything,” she said.

Delayed Reaction

The opposition once hoped to ride the momentum of its unprecedented landslide victory in the 2019 District Council elections to take control of the legislative chamber. But after the vote was postponed, the central government seized the chance to formally end China’s only experiment with open elections.

In March, Beijing overhauled the body that picks the city’s leader to give it even greater sway, including the power to directly elect 40 lawmakers. In May, the city’s legislature approved a China-drafted plan to create a review committee to vet all candidates for elected office. National security officials now determine whether candidates can uphold local laws and respect the Communist Party.

Both moves came in the wake of widespread street protests against the government, which were supported by the city’s pro-democracy opposition politicians. 

“The Chinese government has given up on opposition parties, as it thinks they have not been helpful but harmful to Hong Kong,” said Ivan Choy, a senior lecturer in politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Beijing wants the government and new legislature to work together to pass bills easily and “without opposition” he added. 

While only one in three residents support Lam, according to opinion polls, she is considered the front-runner in the March 27 vote for the city’s next chief executive. That’s because Lam is elected by the revamped committee of Communist Party loyalists, who represent just 0.02% of the city’s population.

In the Sunday commentary, Xinhua said voters showed a “cold response to incitation to cast blank or invalid ballots,” which indicated they were rejecting forces that sought to undermine China. 

“Hong Kong voters have displayed their recognition of the new electoral system featuring broad representation, political inclusiveness, balanced participation, and fair competition,” it said. Dec. 19 was “a day when the broad masses of Hong Kong went to the polls to make the ‘Pearl of the Orient’ shine more brightly.”

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.