Flawed poll sees new faces on Hong Kong's Arts Development Council
Only one-third of registered voters turn out to select members of funding body and they encounter faulty ballots and leave votes blank
Elections to the body that funds the city's arts organisations concluded in chaos, with nine new faces chosen in a poll marred by faulty and blank ballot papers and a count that went on until yesterday afternoon.
The exercise to choose the 10 elected members of the 27-member Arts Development Council also came amid fears that the body was being pushed to the sidelines with just a fraction of the funding available to a fully appointed government body.
Representatives of the 10 arts disciplines - administration, criticism, education, dance, drama, film, literature, music, visual arts and Chinese opera - were chosen by 2,884 voters, or 33.9 per cent of 8,512 registered voters.
But they are not yet officially members as the government regards the poll as a nomination process with the winners "for the chief executive's consideration of appointment as members of the ADC for the next term".
One new face, Anthony Wong Chau-sang, winner of the best stage play actor gong at the Huading Awards in Macau on Monday, said changes were needed to preserve the council's role.
"[The ADC] is getting only the crumbs of a pie," said Wong, who ousted drama veteran Ko Tin-lung. "It has been pushed to the periphery. If it wasn't for this election, this council might even vanish quietly next year."
According to the Home Affairs Bureau, HK$98 million in public funding is earmarked for the council in 2013-2014 to fund grant schemes and arts projects. By contrast, the Advisory Committee on Arts Development, set up two years ago, has HK$337.4 million for the same period.