Voter turnout plunged below 30% in Hong Kong's first district council elections since new rules introduced under Beijing's guidance effectively shut out all pro-democracy candidates, setting a record low since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. According to official data on Monday, 27.5% of the city's 4.3 million registered voters cast ballots in Sunday's polls—significantly less than the record 71.2% who participated in the last elections held at the height of anti-government protests in 2019. The pro-democracy camp won those polls in a landslide victory, in a clear rebuke of the government's handling of the protests.
Beijing loyalists are expected to take control of the district councils after Sunday's elections, with results showing big pro-government parties winning most directly elected seats, the AP reports. The district councils, which primarily handle municipal matters such as organizing construction projects and public facilities, were Hong Kong's last major political bodies mostly chosen by the public. But under new electoral rules introduced under a Beijing order that only "patriots" should administer the city, candidates must secure endorsements from at least nine members of government-appointed committees that are mostly packed with Beijing loyalists, making it virtually impossible for any pro-democracy candidates to run.
An amendment passed in July also slashed the proportion of directly elected seats from about 90% to about 20%. Many prominent pro-democracy activists have been arrested or have fled the territory after Beijing imposed a harsh national security law in response to the 2019 protests. Critics say the low voter turnout reflects the public sentiment toward the "patriots" only system and the government's crackdown on dissent. Beijing's top office for Hong Kong affairs on Monday said the council elections helped promote the "enhancement of democracy."
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Kenneth Chan, professor at Hong Kong Baptist University's government and international studies department, said the low turnout was not the result of political apathy or a coordinated boycott, but rather "a widespread political disengagement by design" under the revised rules, with most people understanding that they were "disinvited. The record low turnout must be hugely humiliating for the government and its allies given the unprecedented propaganda campaigns and ubiquitous mobilization," he said. (More Hong Kong stories.)
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