Record Hong Kong turnout for bitterly fought Legislative Council polls
Localist contenders make their mark in early vote-counting after polling stations extend opening hours as 2.2 million Hongkongers cast ballots in most critical elections since the 1997 handover
A record number of voters turned out for Sunday’s Legislative Council elections, reflecting Hongkongers’ eagerness to make their voices count in the most politically critical and bitterly fought polls since the city’s 1997 handover.
Many flocked to polling stations late in the evening, galvanised by last-minute appeals for support. At a polling station in Taikoo Shing, the last vote was cast at almost 2.30am, four hours after the polls were originally scheduled to close.
By 5.45am, with around half the polling stations having counted their votes, young localist Eddie Chu Hoi-dick was leading in New Territories West with 70,221 votes, ahead of pro-government veteran Michael Tien Puk-sun on 59,000.
On Hong Kong Island, Nathan Law Kwun-chung – a student leader during the Occupy protests of 2014 – was running second behind pro-establishment heavyweight Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee.
Another Occupy protester running in Kowloon West, Lau Siu-lai, who until a few weeks ago was a little-known lecturer, had 32,000 votes as of 5.15am, trailing two pro-Beijing veterans: Ann Chiang Lai-wan with 45,000 votes and Priscilla Leung Mei-fun on 42,000.
All three newcomers promote a moderate form of localism, not the radical notion of seeking Hong Kong’s independence from China.
Traditional pan-democrats Wu Chi-wai, of the Democratic Party, and Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, of the Civic Party, were leading their camps in Kowloon East and New Territories East respectively.