Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp have announced a total of eight locations in Kowloon West and New Territories East for unofficial primaries to be held this Sunday, ahead of the official legislative by-elections in March.
Power of Democracy – the primary election organisers – has asked voters to bring their identity cards and a proof of address to show that they are residents of the two geographical areas before voting.
The Legislative Council will hold by-elections to fill four seats in March following the expulsion of six pro-democracy and localist lawmakers in 2016 and 2017 due to the way they took their oaths of office.
The unofficial primaries seek to select a single pro-democracy candidate for Kowloon West and New Territories East, in a bid to concentrate votes and defeat the pro-Beijing camp.
See also: Hong Kong’s March 11 legislative by-elections: Meet the potential candidates
But on Hong Kong Island, the pro-democracy camp has united behind Demosisto’s Agnes Chow, who is seeking to replace her ousted colleague Nathan Law. The final by-election seeks to fill the vacant architectural sector seat, and is not open to popular vote.
Power of Democracy convener Andrew Chiu told Apple Daily he hoped that the eight polling stations would attract at least 1,000 voters each. He added that he had difficulty finding indoor venues because managers often received “political” orders not to lease venues to the group.
Apart from physical voting, the University of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Programme will also conduct polls by making telephone calls to landline numbers belonging to Kowloon West and New Territories East residents. A separate voting session for political parties participating in the primaries will also take place earlier.
Physical votes and telephone votes will each count for 45 per cent in the final results of the unofficial primaries, while party votes will count for 10 per cent.
The polling stations (open from 9am to 9pm on Sunday):
Kowloon West:
- Basement of Christian Council Building, 33 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.
- Shek Kip Mei Estate Exhibition Hall, 215 Nam Cheong Street, Shek Kip Mei.
- Open area outside Whampoa MTR station Exit A.
New Territories East:
- G/F, Cheng Yu Tung Building, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin.
- Open area outside Tseung Kwan O MTR station Exit A2.
- Open area outside Tai Wai MTR station Exit D.
- Open area outside Fanling MTR station Exit A2.
- Open area outside Tai Po Hui Market and Food Complex Centre, Wan Tau Street, Tai Po.
