Hong Kong lawmaker fears Beijing behind jump in voters in IT functional constituency
IT sector lawmaker Charles Mok notes that voter numbers are up 80 per cent – more than he expected
The lawmaker for information technology has expressed shock at a sharp rise in the number of registered voters in his functional constituency and questioned whether pro-Beijing forces were getting people to sign up.
The information technology constituency saw the biggest expansion in voter numbers – from 6,716 in 2012 to 12,046 this year – a rise of 79.4 per cent, according to provisional voter statistics released by the Registration and Electoral Office yesterday.
The provisional data also showed those who plan to contest Legislative Council seats in the September elections will face more older voters.
For the 28 traditional trade-based functional constituencies, there are about 239,195 registered voters, a slight drop from about 240,735 in 2012.
The accountancy sector has 25,970 voters, 796 more compared with the 2012 figure.
Incumbent IT sector lawmaker Charles Mok described the sharp rise as “shocking” and claimed it added weight to a conspiracy theory that Beijing was orchestrating it behind the scene.