‘Serious provocation’: Beijing blasts Hong Kong democrat primaries after initial results revealed

Beijing has blasted the Hong Kong democratic camp’s weekend primaries as a “serious provocation” of the current electoral system after organisers revealed the initial results from electronic ballots.

In a statement released on Monday night, China’s liaison office in Hong Kong called the vote to select pro-democracy candidates “illegal” and said it would undermine the fairness of the Legislative Council election in September.

The primaries aim to narrow the final list of pro-democracy candidates to run in the official election. Organisers said they hope to win more than 35 seats to secure a majority in the legislature.

Beijing’s representative pointed the finger at co-organiser and law professor Benny Tai, who helped initiate the 2014 Umbrella Movement. The office said it was “typical” for him to be suspected of “breaking the law,” while claiming “foreign forces” had helped to facilitate the primaries.

“It is a serious provocation to the current election system, seriously damages the fairness and impartiality of the Legislative Council Election, and seriously harms to the legal rights and interests of other candidates,” the office wrote.

On Sunday, co-organising political group Power for Democracy said more than 610,000 people had cast their ballots throughout the two-day vote. Tai hailed the turnout as a “miracle” as Hongkongers participated despite fears over the newly-enacted national security law and Covid-19.

The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau on Monday warned it would follow up on complaints related to the election. It said some claimed the primaries had “interfered” with and “manipulated” September’s ballot, thus “severely jeopardising” the integrity of the electoral process.

The bureau said it had also received complaints about personal data privacy, as well as organisers’ vow to veto the government’s annual budget if they secure a majority in the legislature. It warned such a move could violate the offence of subversion under the Beijing-enforced security law.

“The government is committed to ensuring that public elections are held in an open, fair and honest manner. If anyone is found to have committed acts of deceit or violated any law during the electoral process, the government will handle the case in a serious manner and there shall be no tolerance,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Tai has denied advocating unlawful electoral strategies.

The criticisms came a few hours after organisers revealed the preliminary results of the primary election, after counting 590,000 votes cast via a mobile app. Localist candidates are leading across different constituencies, while some incumbent legislators and long-standing opposition figures trailed behind.

The number of shortlisted candidates for some constituencies has yet to be confirmed as organisers continue to count paper ballots. Based on the different coordination policies, some who failed to meet the vote threshold have announced their withdrawals from the election.

“I have no regrets over the primaries results and will support each shortlisted candidate,” Barrister Lawrence Lau wrote on Facebook. He ranked fifth in the Kowloon West constituency, which will likely send four candidates and their nomination lists only.

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