‘Get out and vote’: Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying casts his ballot as polling stations open across Hong Kong

The city’s polling stations opened at 7.30am on Sunday morning, as 3.78 million registered electors were urged to cast their votes in the 2016 Legislative Council elections

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Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying casts his vote on Sunday morning. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 10:15am, 4 Sep 2016Updated: 6:23pm, 4 Sep 2016

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and other government officials in his administration urged the public to come out to vote as polls opened at 7.30am on Sunday for the first Legislative Council election since the Occupy movement.

Leung said he believed voters would have their own “independent minds” when picking their candidate, as he and wife Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee visited a polling station at 8.11am on Robinson Road in Central to cast their votes.

Referring to the decision for at least six candidates from the pan-democratic camp to halt their electioneering, Leung said voters can still pick them as there is no procedure in the system to allow them to quit.

“Democracy is reflected in the freedom of choices of the voters,” Leung said. “The electors can have their own choice. There is no need for other people to teach them how to vote.”

The pan-democratic candidates made the last minute announcement after earlier polls suggested a favourable turnout for pro-establishment candidates. They believed they had a very low chance of winning and urged supporters to switch votes to other allies.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor urged all eligible voters to come out to make their choice.

“In the past few years, society has been disrupted and there is increasing confrontation,” said Lam after she voted at a polling station on The Peak at 8.20am. “Some policies, including those which aim to develop a new economic front and improve livelihood, have been delayed or die without a reason.