Hong Kong elections: traditional opposition parties, localists face off as more than 610,000 residents cast primary ballots

Name: More than 610,000 vote in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition primary elections
Uploaded: 2020-07-12T05:26:53.000Z
Duration: 2 min 7 s
Description: More than 610,000 vote in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition primary elections

Primary a ‘battle of different approaches,’ one candidate says, as some voters seek more confrontational approach, while others see room to negotiate

Turnout concerns prove unwarranted as queues of hundreds form at polling stations in some city neighbourhoods

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People queue up in Hong Kong’s Tai Po area on Sunday to vote in an opposition camp primary, as similar scenes unfolded across the city. Photo: Felix Wong

Jeffie Lam

Published: 1:26pm, 12 Jul 2020Updated: 6:59pm, 13 Jul 2020

Hong Kong’s traditional opposition parties made an “emergency appeal” to voters on Sunday amid fierce competition from localist challengers in a weekend primary that saw more than 610,000 residents cast ballots to determine tickets for September’s Legislative Council elections.

Long queues were already forming across the city – including in Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Sha Tin and Tai Po – before polling stations reopened on Sunday morning, a repeat of scenes from the day before.

According to the organisers, a total of 592,211 votes were cast via mobile app and about 21,000 paper ballots were cast in the two-day primary election.

The figure, which far exceeded the original target of 170,000, represented more than 13.8 per cent of registered voters.

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More than 610,000 vote in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition primary elections

University of Hong Kong law scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who spearheaded the primary exercise, said: “Hong Kong people have worked a miracle.”