Letters | If Hong Kong has no silent majority opposing the protests, it certainly has a very large silent minority

In Hong Kong’s district council elections on November 24, 2.9 million people out of an electorate of 4.1 million voted, with 41 per cent voting for pro-government candidates and 4 per cent for independents.

In total, 1.2 million people did not vote. Some may have been put off voting because of fears of retribution – doxxing, having their businesses targeted, being beaten up or set on fire. That fear was unidirectional: people who support the government feared those who support the protests.

So if there is any bias, it would be that the district council elections under-represented the pro-government or pro-independent vote. I voted independent, because that candidate was the only one in my area challenging the Civic Party, which is deeply implicated in the protests. I would have voted for anyone against the Civic Party candidate, including a pro-government candidate.

The anti-government forces won in 17 out of 18 districts, because of the first-past-the-post system. Whether that is a “landslide”, as many in the media term it, is questionable, given that the share of the popular vote was 55 per cent for the pan-democrats against 41 per cent for the pro-establishment camp.

If we are not the silent majority, we are certainly the silent very large minority. And we ought to be less silent.