Almost 13,000 electors have registered to cast their ballots at two polling stations near the city’s border with mainland China in the upcoming “patriots-only” District Council race.
The 12,976 registrations, announced by the government after registration closed on Wednesday afternoon, amounted to just over a third of the quota, which was capped at 38,000.
The government said last month when the arrangement was announced that it would raise the limit if registration figures were high.
Under the cross-border voting arrangement, eligible voters living in mainland China can cast their votes at polling stations at two schools in Sheung Shui, a New Territories neighbourhood a train stop away from the city’s busiest border control point.
The arrangement was made after the government “received many views and voices from the community” that residents in mainland China wanted polling booths to be set up at border crossings, according to an earlier statement. But as the checkpoints were “very busy,” they were not considered suitable.
Electors registered under the border arrangement are required to confirm their registration via text or email before casting their votes on December 10, according to Wednesday’s statement.
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 have been 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.
Opposition parties have been effectively barred from joining December’s race, after their members did not manage to collect sufficient nominations from government-appointed committees. As part of the overhaul, candidates must receive a total of at least nine nominations from the committees, which are stacked with pro-establishment figures.
Registrations ‘not too low’
Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) David Lok said on Tuesday, when border poll registrations stood at 11,427, that he “did not think the registration figures were too low,” adding that the arrangement would be set up for the sake of convenience.
The body, which oversees electoral matters in the city, had received 1,198 complaints regarding the election, 725 of which involved election advertisements, Lok told reporters at a mock polling station in North Point. It had also received 140 complaints against canvassing activities at private premises and government buildings, and 268 noise complaints.
He also said he found no issue with the Social Welfare Department offering subsidies for elderly community centres to bus seniors to polling stations on Sunday, as long as operators did not attempt to influence residents’ decisions.
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