Hong Kong elections: vote counting kicks off after polls close for key committee

Constitutional and mainland affairs chief Erick Tsang says vastly reduced voter pool remains representative of city’s broader populace

Carrie Lam says poll will ‘lay foundation’ for future races, though some residents bemoan inability to participate and question if it is an ‘improvement’

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A man takes a selfie next to an election banner outside the polling station in Sha Tin Town Hal. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 9:11am, 19 Sep 2021Updated: 1:33am, 20 Sep 2021

Voters fanned out across five polling stations in Hong Kong on Sunday to cast their ballots for members of the powerful Election Committee, marking the city’s first political race under a Beijing-decreed system overhaul.

Under the central government’s radical revamp, designed to ensure only “patriots” govern Hong Kong, the original 1,200-strong Election Committee has been expanded by 300 seats and given new powers to not only elect the city’s next leader, but nominate candidates to the Legislative Council and directly send 40 lawmakers of its own choosing to the chamber, some or all of whom can come from within the committee’s ranks.

The electoral base for the Election Committee polls, which Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Sunday said were “laying the foundation for future elections”, has been dramatically reduced by 97 per cent – from 246,440 voters to about 8,000. Acknowledging the smaller base before polling opened, Lam said the voters were, however, now more representative.

Most of the 1,500 seats have already been allocated to ex officio members or were won in uncontested walkovers. Only 412 candidates are competing for 364 seats in 13 of the 40 subsectors, meaning some 4,900 voters were expected cast their ballots at five polling stations in Wan Chai, Tsim Sha Tsui, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun between 9am and 6pm.

With only two opposition-friendly faces in the race, some have accused authorities of stifling dissent with the new rules, though analysts have suggested the Sunday elections would be an indicator of how much room was left for a new, moderate breed of critics.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam arrives at the Wan Chai polling station on Sunday morning. Photo: Felix Wong

Overall turnout hits 90 per cent

Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Barnabas Fung Wah said about 4,380 people voted on Sunday, or about 90 per cent of the electorate.