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Hong Kong elections: just 1 opposition-leaning candidate wins seat on 1,500-strong Election Committee
- Tik Chi-yuen, whose winning bid came down to drawing numbers with two other finalists, says worth taking part if he can represent how Hongkongers think ‘deep down’
- Francis Chau, the only other candidate seen as sympathetic to opposition, earns just 37 votes in the social welfare sector
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Only one of two opposition-leaning candidates running in Hong Kong’s Election Committee polls won on Sunday – by a narrow margin and with a little luck – after earlier expressing optimism that alternative views would still be represented under a new governance system decreed by Beijing.
Tik Chi-yuen and Francis Chau Yin-ming were the only two names not from the pro-establishment ranks to contest in Sunday’s elections as more than 4,000 voters ballots were cast for members of a powerful body that will select the city’s next leader and nominate as well as appoint lawmakers to the legislature.
Amid a night of vote-counting that dragged on much longer than expected, Tik prevailed in the social welfare sector, grabbing the last of the 12 seats contested by 23 candidates.
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But after pocketing 55 votes from 144 voters, Tik shared the same tally with two other candidates when there were only two places left. Jessica Yu Sau-chu, founder and chief executive of the Hong Kong Single Parents Association, got the most votes in the sector at 98.
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The three remaining candidates, including Tik, had to draw a number to decide who took the two remaining seats. Tik’s number 9 gave him the last available slot, followed by the candidate who drew a 10.
Despite the narrow victory, Tik declared: “It showed there is at least some room for us.”
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