Hong Kong tallies record turnout rate and record number of voters for Election Committee that picks city’s next leader
Numbers nearly double those of last time in 2011, heightening pro-democracy bloc hopes of winning more influential role in chief executive poll next March
All eyes are on whether Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp could for the first time win an influential share of seats in the committee that would go on to pick the city’s next leader in March, with the number of voters casting their ballots on Sunday nearly double that of the last election.
At 1.40am Monday, Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah said the city notched a record turnout at 46 per cent of eligible voters and a record number of voters, with 107,000 of about 230,000 casting their ballots for 733 seats of the 1,194-member Election Committee.
Polling closed at 10.30pm Sunday.
The remaining 461 seats are either held by ex officio members or have been returned uncontested.
The turnout rate was nearly 20 percentage points higher than that of the last committee election in 2011, when the overall turnout rate was 27.6 per cent.
Fung said the top three subsectors with the highest turnout rates were “Hong Kong and Kowloon district councils” (about 95 per cent), “Heung Yee Kuk” (about 90 per cent), and “Hotel” (about 85 per cent).