Beijing and Hong Kong have congratulated the winning candidates in the city’s opposition-free District Council elections, emphasising their diversity and hailing them as patriots who would help to build a better community.
Hong Kong held its first district-level polls since the government overhauled the electoral system, introducing changes that effectively made it impossible for pan-democrats to run. Pro-democracy hopefuls failed to obtain the required nominations from government-appointed committees and were thus shut out of the race.
The “patriots-only” poll saw a voter turnout of 27.5 per cent, the lowest in any election held in Hong Kong since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
HKFP rounds up reactions from Beijing and Hong Kong authorities, as well as political parties that obtained seats in the new District Councils.
Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office
China’s top office overseeing Hong Kong and Macau said the candidates came from a variety of political groups and social classes, and included professionals such as lawyers, teachers and engineers.
The proportion of younger candidates and those from ethnic minority backgrounds also increased, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office wrote in a Chinese statement on Sunday.
“The candidates are rooted in the community and focused on people’s livelihoods… they engaged in policy debates, allowing citizens to deeply understand the relevance of the election to their own interests and experience a true and effective form of democracy,” the office wrote.
The office added that the new district councillors would put the local bodies “back on the right track,” after pan-democrats swept the race in 2019 amid protests and unrest against a controversial extradition bill that year.
China’s Liaison Office
China’s Liaison Office said it believed the incoming district councillors would not let voters down, acting as a bridge between residents and the authorities to “bridge the last mile in enhancing the governance system.”
Echoing the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, the liaison office also hailed the diversity of the candidates. “There are young, post-1990s generation talents, seasoned professional elites, people who have served the districts for decades, new immigrants and ethnic minorities,” its Chinese statement read.
“We are confident in the development of Hong Kong’s unique democratic system and the realisation of good governance under the principle of One Country, Two Systems under the new electoral framework,” the office continued.
Chief Executive John Lee
The city’s leader thanked those who cast their vote, saying it showed they were “eager to choose an excellent [District Council] member who would be devoted to serving the community.”
The election atmosphere, despite being stripped of the usual colourful campaigns in the absence of opposition candidates, was “lively” and “with competition in all constituencies,” Lee said on Monday.
Legislative Council president Andrew Leung
Andrew Leung, the president of the city’s legislature, said in a statement on Monday that he believed the new district councillors would “spare no effort to serve the people.”
The Legislative Council “looks forward to joining hands with the new term of District Councils” to tackle livelihood issues and improve the wellbeing of Hongkongers, he added.
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), which won over 40 per cent of seats elected by the public and a small circle of voters, held a press conference on Monday.
Addressing reporters, eight members of the party clasped hands and bowed, saying “thank you citizens for your support.”
Gary Chan, the party’s chair, announced that the group had obtained 109 seats in the overhauled elections. The figure included 41 seats in the geographic elections voted on by the public, and 68 in the small-circle elections in which only government-appointed committees could vote.
“This election was, compared to 2019, not filled with slander and violence. There was no polarisation or division, and moreover, no violent threats against candidates,” Chan said.
Ahead of the District Council elections in 2019, there were incidents of vandalism and violence on both sides of the political spectrum. A volunteer campaigning for a DAB candidate was punched by two men in Sha Tin, and the office of a DAB district councillor in Tuen Mun was also vandalised several times.
Weeks before the election, pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho was stabbed while campaigning in Yuen Long. Meanwhile, three pro-democracy candidates Stanley Ho, Jocelyn Chau and Janelle Leung were also attacked.
New People’s Party
In a press conference held by pro-establishment party New People’s Party (NPP) on Monday, chairperson Regina Ip recapped the group’s results in the District Council elections.
Ip said the party had sent 18 members – including one they were supporting in conjunction with the party The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions – to contest in the geographic elections. For the small-circle elections, NPP sent 12. Among them, the party returned six seats in the geographic race, and 10 in the committee race.
“This is an excellent harvest. We are extremely satisfied with this result,” Ip said, adding that the party only has one District Council representative in the current term.
The voter turnout of 27.5 per cent for the geographic race showed that pro-establishment supporters had come out to back their favoured candidates, Ip said.
“This reflects that our pro-establishment supporters support the new electoral system.”
European Union
An EU office said the changes to the electoral system had severely weakened Hong Kong’s people to select their representatives.
“Yesterday Hong Kong’s District Council elections took place with a turnout of 27.5%. The number of directly-elected seats has been drastically reduced, all subject to a rigorous vetting mechanism,” Nabila Massrali, the EU spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, tweeted.
Massrali reshared an EU statement published in July, stating that the “reform of the District Council elections goes against the commitment to democratic representation set out in the Hong Kong Basic Law.”
UK
In a statement on Monday, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office called on the Hong Kong government to uphold the city’ freedoms.
In local elections yesterday, many voices from Hong Kong’s District Councils were excluded from participating. Meaningful opposition in Hong Kong’s electoral system is being eliminated,” the statement read. “We strongly urge the Hong Kong Government to uphold its international commitments and respect the civil rights and freedoms of Hong Kong citizens.”
Arrests over planned protests
Three members of pro-democracy party the League of Social Democrats were arrested on their way to protest Sunday’s election.
The group’s chairperson Chan Po-ying and vice-chairs Dickson Chow and Yu Wai-pan were apprehended in Central on Sunday morning and taken to Central Police District Headquarters, LSD member Raphael Wong told HKFP.
The trio was heading to protest outside a polling station in the affluent neighbourhood of Mid-Levels, where Chief Executive John Lee was slated to cast his vote. The party had informed reporters that they would hold a demonstration at 8.45 am.
In response to HKFP, police said they had arrested three people aged 31 to 67 on suspicion of inciting others to intervene in the District Council elections. The trio, who were apprehended on Queen’s Road Central near Pedder Street, were being held for investigation.
A separate planned protest was thwarted last Friday when veteran activist Koo Sze-yiu was arrested under the colonial-era sedition law. He has been denied bail.
Lui Yuk-lin, a friend of Koo’s, told HKFP on Friday that Koo had planned to stage a protest at the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) in Cheung Sha Wan, but was apprehended before he left home.
According to Lui, Koo intended to demonstrate against what he saw as an “unfair race” in Sunday’s District Council election, citing a lack of candidates from the pro-democracy camp. Koo had informed the REO about his plan, Lui said.
First ‘patriots-only’ race
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.
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