Pan-democratic lawmakers have urged those not yet registered to vote to sign up before the deadline on July 2, in a bid to boost their support ahead of November’s District Council elections.
At a publicity event in Tai Wai on Sunday, the group urged pro-democracy supporters to unite and “kick pro-establishment politicians out of local districts.”
Official figures show that 3.5 million of 4.7 million eligible voters are registered. However the registration rate is much lower among the 18-30 age group, with only 59.7 per cent of 971,400 eligible voters registered in 2014.
Meanwhile, nearly 80 per cent – or over 1.8 million people – aged 50 and above are registered voters. A large number of older voters are loyal supporters of the pro-Beijing camp.
A number of civil society groups have been promoting the importance of voter registration among young pro-democracy supporters since the Occupy protests that locked down the Central area of Hong Kong last winter.
In the polls running up to the recent Legco vote on the political reform package, over 60 per cent of young people aged between 18-29 were supportive of vetoing Beijing’s proposals.
Lawmakers who attended Sunday’s event included Alan Leong of the Civic Party, Lee Cheuk Yan of the Labour Party, Albert Ho of the Democratic Party, Gary Fan of the Neo-Democrats and legislator for the IT section Charles Mok.
The pan-democrats also gave out voter registration forms at over 50 booths across the city.
Apart from the pan-democrats, the pro-Beijing side were also attempting to increase their voter numbers. In a report by Apple Daily, Hong Kong members of China’s top advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Consultative, are required to submit up to 20 new voter registration forms.
