Hong Kong’s first ‘patriots-only’ district council election shows ‘real, functioning democracy’, Beijing and local authorities say despite record-low turnout
- District council election logs record-low turnout of 27.54 per cent, but city leader John Lee lauds ‘high-quality’ poll
- Beijing and its local offices offer congratulations to winning candidates, say vote important in implementing the principle of ‘patriots governing Hong Kong’
The election winners should focus on improving the livelihoods and well-being of residents, Beijing’s top office overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs said in a statement setting out five expectations of the newly elected councillors.
The to-do list was centred on ensuring effective implementation of the “one country, two systems” governing principle, resolving conflicts and uniting society.
City leader John Lee Ka-chiu also lauded Sunday’s “patriots-only” election as a “high-quality one”, despite a computer glitch that caused the electronic poll register to malfunction, and prompted authorities to extend voting by 90 minutes, to midnight.
A visibly stern Lee overnight announced the setting up of a task force to look into the matter and submit a report in three months.
Regular hourly reporting on turnout numbers was also disrupted following the breakdown, with authorities only announcing the final figure almost eight hours after polling ended, breaking from usual practice.
The data released on Monday morning showed that 1,193,193 people – or 27.54 per cent of registered electors – had voted, the lowest participation rate on record since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.
