Hong Kong will hold its first major election since Beijing dictated only patriots can govern the city, a move that has wiped out the pro-democracy bloc and threatens to diminish voter turnout.
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The public will vote for only 20 of the ninety lawmakers to be elected on December 19. Forty others will be chosen from a 1,448-member pro-Beijing committee, while the remaining 30 will be handpicked by professional groups.
But with the city's pro-democracy camp locked up, exiled or banned from the race - and all candidates on the ballot vetted for loyalty to China's Communist Party -- the election looks very different from previous in the former British colony. Hong Kong postponed the vote, citing Covid 19 restrictions, preventing the opposition from riding a wave of popular support after mass protests in 2019 and Beijing imposing strict national security law on the city.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has denied that the vote is an all-same unit election, saying that the 153 candidates standing are from different political backgrounds. Her government wants people to validate Beijing's new system by getting enough people to participate, avoiding the humiliating rebuke that a low turnout would deliver.
According to a Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute poll of about 8,000 registered voters, 48% said they would definitely vote in the LegCo election. 84% of those who support the pro-democracy camp said there wasn't a candidate worthy of their support.
Three years after the city's return to Chinese rule, it has a low of 43.5% in 2000.
There will be free transportation Sunday to make it easier for voters to get to booths while polls are open from 8: 30 a.m. to 10: 30 p.m. and for the first time, polling stations on the border will serve more than 18,000 Hong Kong people living in mainland China who have registered to vote.
Other measures to ensure participation have been less subtle. Authorities arrested 10 people for inciting others to cast blank votes, and issued arrest warrants for ex-district councilor Yau Man-chun and ex-District councillor Ted Hui.
On Saturday, the city's anti-corruption agency said it had issued warrants for another five people, including former district councillor Lee Hin-long, on the same grounds. All five of them left Hong Kong, it said.
We have the responsibility to explain the characteristics of Hong Kong's improved electoral system and to encourage all registered voters to exercise their civil rights, Lam told the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper on December 7. She said that low turnout could indicate satisfaction with the government.
The turnout rate does not mean anything, she said.
The opposition once hoped to ride the momentum of its landslide victory in the 2019 District Council elections to take control of the legislative chamber. The central government seized the chance to end China's only experiment with open elections after the vote was postponed.
In March Beijing overhauled the body that picks the city s leader to give it even more power, including the power to directly elect 40 lawmakers. In May, the city s legislature approved a plan to create a review committee to vet all candidates for elected office. National security officials will decide 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 because it thinks they have not been helpful but harmful to Hong Kong, said Ivan Choy, senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He said that Beijing wants the government and the new legislature to work together to pass bills quickly and without opposition.
More than 10,000 officers will be deployed on Sunday to secure the election, according to local media including the South China Morning PostChina Morning Post.
The outcome could be personal for Lam. According to opinion polls, only one in three residents support her, and is considered the front-runner in the March 27 vote for the city's next chief executive. That is because Lam is elected by the reconstructed Communist Party loyalists, who represent only 0.02% of the city's population.
With the preparations for Sunday's election, Lam is trying to tell Beijing she s made every effort to make sure it runs smoothly, Choy said. If things don't go as planned on the polling day, Carrie Lam's chances of being re-elected will be much lower, he said. How can I have a Perfect Work From Home Friday?
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