The government has – so far – received 322 nominations from would-be candidates for the “patriots-only” District Council election on December 10, though none of them have been from the remaining pro-democracy parties.
The nomination period opened last Tuesday and runs until next Monday.
According to the latest data available, as of Saturday, the Registration and Electoral Office had received 168 nomination forms for the 18 District Committee Constituencies (DCC). In all, 176 DCC seats will be returned by some 2,500 members of three district-level committees.
Meanwhile, the authorities received 154 nominations so far for the 44 District Council Geographical Constituencies (DCGC), where just 88 seats will be democratically returned by over 4.3 million eligible voters.
‘Patriots only’
Plans to overhaul the District Council elections were unveiled in May 2023 to ensure only “patriots” were elected, following a pro-democracy landslide at the last polls in 2019.
The number of seats chosen democratically by the public were slashed from 452 to 88 – reducing the power of public votes to a fifth. The rest are to be chosen by the city’s leader and government-appointed committees.
Constituency boundaries were redrawn, the opposition were shut out, voting hours were slashed by an hour, and each local council is to be chaired by a government official, similar to colonial-era arrangements. All candidates undergo national security vetting to ensure patriotism.
Committee nominations
Candidates who secured at least three nominations from each of the three committees – the Area Committees, the District Fight Crime Committees, and the District Fire Safety Committees – have been submitting their nomination forms.
Candidates who declared themselves as independent, or did not provide any political affiliation, were the largest group for both constituencies. They made up 68 of the 168 would-be candidates for the DCC constituency, and 53 of the 154 DCGC hopefuls.
During previous elections, local media found that candidates declaring as “independent,” or of no affiliation, did in fact have ties to a political camp.
The next-largest group of candidates were figures from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), which saw 103 party members throwing their hat into the ring. The DAB – the city’s largest pro-Beijing party – said last week that it would field 122 candidates, including 44 to run in the democratically-elected DCGC.
Pro-Beijing groups like the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and the New People’s Party, and the pro-business Liberal Party have also submitted nomination, alongside some smaller pro-establishment groups. The nascent New Prospect for Hong Kong submitted four candidates thus far.
The Registration and Electoral Office has yet to receive a nomination from an opposition party. Pro-democracy parties have complained that nominators were difficult to reach, whilst some nominators were seeking seats for themselves. Most traditional pro-democracy figures remain behind bars, have quit politics, or are in self-exile abroad.
No democrats so far
During the last polls, which took place during the height of the 2019 protests and unrest, democrats took control of 17 out of 18 councils. The DAB, the largest political party in the District Councils before 2019, suffered a thrashing with its seats reduced drastically from 119 to 21.
But, following the electoral overhaul, remaining pro-democracy parties like the Democratic Party and the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood (ADPL) are fielding fewer hopefuls in the race. The Democratic Party hopes to field six candidates, and the ADPL would field two – if they can secure nominations.
Speaking to HKFP on Friday, Bonnie Ng, vice-chair of the Democratic Party, said she had not received any nominations thus far. She is eyeing her former seat in the Central and Western district.
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