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Hong Kong elections: why are pro-Beijing candidates in the Legislative Council race facing voter-wooing woes?
- City’s largest pro-establishment party pins its hopes on winning big in directly elected seats
- With main opposition parties staying out of poll, Legco candidates sense lack of interest among voters
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Hong Kong is set to hold its Legislative Council election on December 19, the first citywide poll since Beijing revamped the electoral system to ensure only “patriots” hold political power. In the third of a four-part election series, Tony Cheung looks at the strategies of candidates contesting in the 10 redrawn geographical constituencies.
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It was early morning and former district councillor Chan Hok-fung, 45, was manning a booth at Central Pier No 6, greeting commuters arriving from Peng Chau and Lantau islands.
Donning an orange vest with his name printed on it, he handed out pamphlets to ferry passengers, saying over and over again: “Good morning, please support me.”
A vice-chairman of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), he is contesting the Legislative Council election on December 19.
He is running in the revamped Hong Kong Island West geographical constituency, home to more than 370,000 voters living in the Southern, Central and Western, and Islands districts.
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With him at the pier that morning was former DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung, now a member of China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
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