Hong Kong voters free to cast blank ballots, but urging others to do so could be made a crime, Carrie Lam confirms

‘The government will not regulate [residents’] choice, whether it is to choose a candidate or no candidate at all, or to damage the ballot to invalidate it,’ chief executive says

But ‘inciting voters’ to do so collectively could be considered a way of damaging or manipulating the election, she warns

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam warned that ‘inciting’ voters to cast blank ballots could be a crime under coming legislation. Photo: David Wong

Published: 2:35pm, 13 Apr 2021Updated: 8:20pm, 13 Apr 2021

Hong Kong will not regulate the casting of blank ballots in the laws it is drafting to implement Beijing’s radical overhaul of the city’s electoral system, but the new legislation could make organising or inciting others to do so illegal, the city’s leader has confirmed.

Meeting the press before her weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said: “We respect each voter’s right to choose, and making whatever display [they wish] with the ballots allocated to them is their freedom. The government will not regulate their choice, whether it is to choose a candidate or no candidate at all, or to damage the ballot to invalidate it.

“[But] If we are talking about organising and … inciting voters during an election to collectively take action, then that could be considered damaging or manipulating an election, and would be easy to distinguish [from casting blank ballots].”

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam meets the press before her Executive Council meeting on Tuesday. Photo: Sam Tsang

To date, no opposition party has called for the use of blank ballots, but the question of banning the potential protest method has become the subject of escalating debate after top ministers such as Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai floated the possibility last week.

Sources told the Post on Monday that Hong Kong officials would leave nothing to chance when it came to implementing the Beijing-mandated political overhaul, and planned to lay out a “watertight” set of amendments on Wednesday.

Making it illegal to advocate for the casting of blank ballots was among the expected moves, sources revealed, while a redrawing of geographical boundaries to further weaken any advantage the opposition might still have was also on the cards.

China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, last month voted to expand Hong Kong’s Legislative Council from 70 to 90 seats, but skewed the odds distinctly in favour of the pro-establishment camp.