Why Hong Kong district council elections are important and how ongoing protests may affect vote

This will be the first time people go to the polls since mass protests erupted in the city in June

Councillors serve as a line of communication between citizens and the government, handling community-level affairs across the city’s 18 districts

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The district council elections will be the first polls since anti-government protests erupted in Hong Kong in June. Photo: EPA

Published: 10:15am, 23 Nov 2019Updated: 10:41am, 23 Nov 2019

Hong Kong’s district council elections are scheduled for Sunday as anti-government protests continue to grip the city.

Councillors serve as a line of communication between citizens and the government, handling community-level affairs such as transport and public facilities across the city’s 18 districts.

The elections, which allow voters to directly elect district council members, take place every four years. For the first time, all 452 seats are being contested, with 1,090 candidates competing.

During the last elections in 2015, the pro-establishment camp won 298 out of the 431 contested seats, while the pan-democrats took 126 and independents got seven.

Why do the elections matter?

This will be the first election since mass protests erupted in the city in June. The protests, which were triggered by the now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be transferred to mainland China, have evolved into a wider anti-government campaign.

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