After party loyalists swept the first elections under a revamp by Beijing ensuring that only patriots could run for office, pro-Beijing candidates will occupy nearly every seat in Hong Kong's new legislature.
The elections were marred by record low voter turnout that analysts say signal a general political apathy in the city, 18 months since authorities began a crackdown on political dissent in the name of national security.
Just 30% of Hong Kong's 4.4 million eligible voters went to the polls, almost half of the number who voted in the last legislative election in 2016 was due to the fact that only 30% of the 4.4 million eligible voters went to the polls. In the year of 2019 there were 71% of the voters who voted for the lower-level district council. The turnout was record low despite the pro-Beijing candidates making urgent pleas for more people to vote throughout the election day.
The moderate and non-establishment candidates, including former members of the Democratic camp Mandy Tam and Frederick Fung, lost in the 20 seats that are directly elected by the public to their pro-Beijing counterparts.
It is not easy to push people to vote I think they are feeling indifferent in the present situation, Fung told Reuters.
All 13 candidates fielded by the DAB and the Federation for Trade Unions, the city's largest pro-Beijing groups, won seats.
Carrie Lam, who was installed by Beijing, said she looked forward to having pragmatic and rational interactions with the new legislature to solve the city's deep-seated problems at a press conference after the election results on Monday.
There were around 12,000 police officers and 40,000 government workers who were deployed to ensure a smooth process on Sunday.
Starry Lee, head of the city's largest pro-Beijing party the DAB, said the low voter turnout was not a sign of general discontent with the new system. I do not believe that the low turnout is related to citizens not agreeing with the electoral system. She told reporters on Sunday that they believe that it needs some time to get adapted to this system.
The entrances to the 630 polling stations across the city were empty throughout the day. The scenes were in stark contrast to the lower-level district councils of Hong Kong in 2019 when pro-democracy candidates won all but one of the councils.
The city was bustling as Hongkongers took advantage of free public transportation rides designed to boost voter turnout to visit theme parks and go hiking.
Some overseas democrats, like Sunny Cheung, who moved to the United States to escape prosecution under the national security law, said most of Hong Kong had boycotted the election to express their discontent to the world. The previous record low for a legislative election held after the city s 1997 return from British to Chinese rule was 43.6% in 2000. In the last major citywide election in Hong Kong for district council seats in 2019, the turnout rate was 71% with around 90% of the 452 seats won by Democrats.
On Monday, Beijing published a white paper titled Hong Kong: Democratic Progress Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems, to explain democracy in Hong Kong. The publication doubled down on Beijing's claims that Hong Kong's new patriots-only electoral system was crucial for the administration of One Country, Two Systems.
Lam attended the White Paper at a press conference after the election results on Monday. She said the government has begun initial plans to implement local security laws to complement Beijing's sweeping legislation that was implemented last summer.
The leader will be in Beijing for an annual three-day trip on Monday to report to central authorities on the city's latest economic, social and political situation.