5 takeaways (and 1 surprise) from the Hong Kong Legislative Council election 2021: an unheeded call, a clean sweep and rising forces
- City’s first legislative election under Beijing’s political shake-up yielded record-low turnout but some surprise results
- Diversity did not gain traction among voters, as individuals with more unique backgrounds and moderates were handed a drubbing
Despite central government officials’ repeated assurances that they were not eyeing “political homogeneity” in Hong Kong’s new legislature, the Beijing-friendly camp ended up sweeping all but one seat, and all 11 centrist candidates running in the directly elected geographical constituencies lost by wide margins.
There were a few surprise results, as several pro-establishment incumbents and popular candidates were ousted. A new and rising force comprising politicians and businessmen with mainland links had entered the political arena.
Here are the five key takeaways from Sunday’s election:
1. A directive that fell on deaf ears?
A week ahead of the Legco election, Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, sought to reassure residents that the central government was not asking for political homogeneity following the overhaul, urging people to cast their ballots.
Xia defended the diversity of the race by pointing to the distinctive backgrounds of the 153 candidates, whom he said came from different professions. They were also of varying ages and birthplaces, he noted, with some born and raised in Hong Kong, while others being Mandarin-speaking mainlanders who had settled in the city, as well as those born in Taiwan, and also foreigners who have taken up Chinese nationality.