The District Council elections will be held on November 23 - yet many people are unaware of it. Given the lack of atmosphere, it would not be surprising if the voter turnout rate proves to be low. Since the historic march on July 1 and the rise of people power, the Tung administration is terrified of the masses. Thus, they have done little to promote the elections.
The pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) is fielding more than 200 candidates, but is being very low-key with its electioneering activities. It does not want to whip up voters' sentiments with a high-profile campaign, bearing in mind the public feelings following the protest march.
Nevertheless, before one vote has been cast, the pro-Beijing candidates are already on to a winner. So far, 76 candidates have been elected unopposed, and many are from the pro-Beijing camp.
In spite of the new-found political awareness, many Hong Kong people are not interested in who is standing for election. The voter turnout rate for the 1999 District Council elections was 35.8 per cent. My concern is that it will not be much better this time.
A number of surveys have found that some middle-class people do not want to vote because they feel no political party represents them. Some people talked of forming a middle-class party, but nothing has come of it. I firmly believe that the development of constitutional reform should be based on multi-party politics. The Tung administration's hostility to political parties is a deliberate hurdle set up to thwart the pace of democratic reforms. The authority is playing on people's antipathy to politics and has said that politicians cannot be trusted because they represent narrow sectoral interests.
Although The Frontier is fielding 13 candidates, it is not yet a political party. I support party politics and do not rule out joining or forming a political party. However, I have no interest in forming one just to serve a particular sector or class of society. Politics is about making compromises on conflicting interests. To focus narrowly on one group of people will make life more straightforward for politicians, hence those from the functional constituencies will have a relatively easy time. But the real world is much more complicated and we have to make tough choices after listening to views from all sides.