Over one quarter of incoming District Council members directly appointed by the government were hopefuls who lost to pro-democracy candidates during the elections in 2019, when the pan-democrats saw a landslide victory.
Hong Kong announced its list of 179 appointed district councillors on Tuesday, two days after its first “patriots-only” District Council elections since overhauling the electoral system. The new electoral system features drastically reduced democratic presentation and a mechanism for vetting candidates.
Of the 470 seats in the new District Councils, 88 are elected by the public in a geographic race, while 176 are voted on by members of three district-level committees in which all members are government-appointed.
Separately, 179 are directly selected by the government. Among them, 49 – around 27 per cent – are pro-establishment figures who were defeated by pro-democracy candidates during the District Council elections in 2019. The race that year, held amid the anti-extradition protests and unrest, saw a record high turnout.
Kelly Tung, one of the 49, served as a district councillor in Tai Wai since 2011 before being unseated by her pro-democracy rival in 2019. The social worker is a member of the city’s largest pro-establishment party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).
Also reclaiming a seat in the District Council is the DAB’s Chu Lap-wai, who lost four years ago in the Shek Yue constituency in the Southern District.
Sunday’s patriots-only election was marred by technical glitches in the electronic voting system and arrests by activists who planned to protest. Despite the 27.5 per cent turnout rate being the lowest in Hong Kong’s post-colonial history, Chief Executive John Lee applauded the “good turnout.”
Newly empowered committees
Separately, 146 of the 179 appointed members – representing 81.6 per cent – also sit on the committees that decide who can run in the geographic and committee elections.
As part of the overhauled electoral system, the government granted new powers to three district-level committees – the Area Committees, District Fight Crime Committees, District Fire Safety Committees. All of the committees’ members are appointed by the government.
To contend in the races, hopefuls must receive sufficient nominations from the committee members. Opposition figures, including those from traditional pro-democracy parties, were shut out from the overhauled races because they failed to secure the required nominations.
In particular, all of the appointed councillors in Yau Tsim Mong, Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan, and the Island districts are members of the three committees.
Both Tung and Chu, who were appointed to the District Council after losing to pro-democracy candidates in 2019, are also members of the three committees. Tung is a member of the Area Committee in Sha Tin District, while Chu is a member of the District Fight Crime Committee in the Southern District.
Eugene Chan, a dentist and also a member of the District Fight Crime Committee in the Central and Western District, was one of the 179 appointed members. He told HKFP that it was natural that many committee members were appointed as district councillors as they had all served the community for many years.
Regarding the power to nominate candidates, Chan said he did not reject anyone who sought nominations from him, and that he did not receive any requests from pro-democracy hopefuls.
“After going through the ups and downs over the past few years, Hong Kong is now governed by patriots. The new system is very different and we all need to adapt to it, ” Chan said in Cantonese.
“The District Council is now defined as a platform for services, instead of a political platform. I am happy to be appointed and to provide district services,” he added.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday morning, the city’s leader, Lee, emphasised that many of those appointed were “mostly young to middle aged.” According to a government statement, 81 per cent of the members are aged between 40 to 64, while 15 per cent are below 40. The members represent different fields including the industrial, grassroots and labour sectors.
“Under the principle of meritocracy, the [g]overnment has appointed 179 persons of high calibre who love our country and Hong Kong to serve as appointed members,” the statement read.
All of the appointed members “love the country and Hong Kong,” the statement added.
HKFP reported on Monday that over 90 per cent of the district councillors elected by the public and a small circle of voters on Sunday are also members of the three committees.
Specifically, 84 of the 88 democratically-elected seats in the geographical constituencies, and 163 of the 176 seats in the small-circle committee elections are members of the three committees.
Similar to previous District Councils, 27 seats were reserved for representatives of rural committees. The name list was also announced on Tuesday afternoon.
First ‘patriots-only’ district election
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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