Hong Kong district council election 2023: opposition hopefuls struggle for backing, while pro-establishment figures report plain sailing

Election will be first held under revamped system that requires all candidates receive nominations from district-level bodies, whose members are appointed by government

Opposition hopefuls say they have yet to win support from members, while pro-establishment parties say backing for nearly 170 representatives is strong

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This year’s district council election, due to be held on December 10, will be the first since the Legislative Council passed a bill revamping the poll in the aftermath of the anti-government protests in 2019. Photo: Jelly Tse

Published: 9:08pm, 17 Oct 2023Updated: 10:55pm, 17 Oct 2023

Members of Hong Kong’s political opposition have said they are struggling to secure nominations for the coming revamped district council election, while pro-establishment parties say their representatives have already won most of the support needed to qualify.

The chairman of the Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood (ADPL), Bruce Liu Sing-lee, on Tuesday said its two members who hoped to run in the December poll had yet to receive any nominations from the three district-level bodies in their respective constituencies, which were needed to qualify.

“For any election, there should be an element of sportsmanship, just like the Asian Games or the World Games,” he told a press conference on the day electoral authorities began accepting nomination forms.

“Every athlete should be able to sign up and take part in the race. It would be very hard to justify if you move the goalposts so much that people cannot even apply to take part.”

ADPL’s candidate for the Sham Shui Po East geographical constituency Kwok Wai-shing says opposition candidates “need all of our strength to actively get nominations”. Photo: Facebook/Kwok Wai-shing

This year’s district council election, due to be held on December 10, will be the first since the Legislative Council passed a bill revamping the poll in the aftermath of the anti-government protests in 2019.