Hong Kong elections: set up polling stations for locals based in Greater Bay Area to cast votes, pro-establishment heavyweight urges

Name: Hong Kong Legislative Council elections postponed by a year
Uploaded: 2020-08-02T07:22:03.000Z
Duration: 3 min 39 s
Description: Hong Kong Legislative Council elections postponed by a year

NPCSC delegate Tam Yiu-chung calls for relaxation of electoral rules in future polls, arguing locals across border also contribute to city

Opposition member questions reasoning as ‘strange’, saying such treatment should then be extended to all Hongkongers overseas

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The Greater Bay Area is China’s plan to set up an economic powerhouse by integrating 11 cities. Photo: Martin Chan

Jeffie Lam

Published: 3:22pm, 2 Aug 2020Updated: 11:56pm, 2 Aug 2020

Hongkongers based across the border should be allowed to vote in the city’s future elections through polling stations set up in Guangdong, a pro-establishment heavyweight said on Sunday.

Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), made the comments after the city’s Legislative Council elections were postponed for a year amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We have been calling on the public to move to [mainland cities] in the Greater Bay Area,” Tam told a television show, denying the suggestion would be in favour of the pro-establishment camp.

He was referring to Beijing’s plan to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine other cities in Guangdong into a technological and economic powerhouse rivalling Silicon Valley. Tam’s comments echoed remarks made by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor a day earlier, who pointed out that voters’ rights could be compromised under Covid-19 border restrictions.

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Hong Kong Legislative Council elections postponed by a year

“Can we allow residents to vote in Hong Kong elections too by setting up polling stations in major mainland cities?” he said, arguing that current electoral rules stipulating that eligible voters were those who “ordinarily reside in Hong Kong” should be relaxed.

“Society has changed,” Tam said. “What these people in the bay area do are relevant to Hong Kong. The laws should adapt to the changing environment.”

Tam said the administration should also introduce new measures such as electronic or postal voting and priority queues for elderly people in the coming year.

There were about 540,000 permanent residents based in Guangdong province for at least six months annually in mid-2019 upon increased integration with the bay area, according to official data.

Under the Legislative Council Ordinance, permanent residents of Hong Kong aged 18 or above are eligible to register as voters if they submit their local principal residential address and ordinarily reside in the city.