Hong Kong elections: Carrie Lam’s logic to link low Legco turnout to good governance is ‘fundamentally flawed’, top adviser Regina Ip says

Name: Hong Kong Legco election candidates up close: Regina Ip, Allan Zeman and Simon Lee
Uploaded: 2021-12-14T05:00:20.000Z
Duration: 29 min 39 s
Description: Hong Kong Legco election candidates up close: Regina Ip, Allan Zeman and Simon Lee

Pro-establishment heavyweight also accuses government of failing to do enough to promote Sunday’s poll, with observers predicting many Hongkongers will not vote

Ip appears in latest instalment of Post’s video series for the election alongside Basic Law expert Simon Hoey Lee, Lan Kwai Fong Group chairman Allan Zeman

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Hong Kong Legco election candidates up close: Regina Ip, Allan Zeman and Simon Lee

Laura Westbrook

Published: 1:00pm, 14 Dec 2021Updated: 3:00pm, 16 Dec 2021

A top government adviser seeking another term as lawmaker has accused Hong Kong’s leader of applying “fundamentally flawed” logic in arguing that low turnout at this coming Sunday’s legislative election could indicate public satisfaction with the administration.

Pro-establishment heavyweight Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee also said officials were failing to properly publicise the Legislative Council poll, with many voters unaware of basic details such as which constituency they live in following a redrawing of boundaries under the Beijing-decreed electoral overhaul.

The Executive Council member was responding to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s remarks last week when she said that low turnout would “not mean anything” apart from potentially signalling good governance.

Referring to the 2019 district council election, in which the opposition camp took control of 17 out of 18 municipal-level bodies with a record 71.2 per cent turnout of registered electors, Ip said: “Does that reflect a failure of her governance? If we pursue her argument to the logical end, one would draw that conclusion.”

Simon Hoey Lee, Regina Ip and Allan Zeman talk to the Post. Photo: Martin Chan

The coming poll will be the first for the legislature since Beijing’s overhaul of the city’s electoral system in March to ensure only “patriots” hold political power.

SCMP Series

Legco Election: Candidates up close

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