Hong Kong district council election: city leader John Lee says officials ‘doing all we can’ to get people to vote
- City leader says overhaul of municipal bodies will help the government better understand people’s needs, calls on civil servants to lead by example and vote
- ‘[The election] will ensure improved administration of district affairs resulting in good districts for us to enjoy,’ Lee adds
Hong Kong’s leader on Tuesday said officials were doing everything they could to encourage the public to vote in next month’s district council election, but sidestepped a question on whether a low turnout could hurt the legitimacy of the revamped poll.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, speaking before the weekly Executive Council meeting, also said the overhaul of the municipal bodies would help the government better understand people’s needs and asked civil servants to set an example by going out to vote.
“We have been doing all we can to [encourage] people to come out to vote,” he said. “It will ensure improved administration of district affairs, resulting in good districts for us to enjoy.”
Authorities earlier this month said they would set up two polling stations in Sheung Shui to ensure Hongkongers living over the border could cast their votes.
Hong Kong civil servants ‘are duty-bound to vote in district council election’
The government tasked the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau with the lead role in boosting election promotion efforts by working alongside the Information Services Department. Officials have also used social media to publicise the poll.
The election will be the first since the government revamped the district council system earlier this year as part of a series of changes under Beijing’s “patriots-only” governance model.
The 2019 district council election saw a record turnout of 71.2 per cent, with the city’s opposition camp winning a landslide victory at the height of that year’s anti-government protests.
But some pundits and politicians have said they expected a poor turnout for the first poll since the shake-up.
Lee avoided a question on whether a low turnout would discredit the overhauled system and said its merits would be shown by the process itself and the service delivery of the new councils.
“We will have expectations of the district council members’ performance and there will be processes, not just [for] the public to monitor their performance, but the system itself will have a monitoring system, so that the elected district council members will do their duty dutifully,” he said.
Alice Mak Mei-kuen, the home and youth affairs secretary, earlier downplayed the importance of turnout and said many factors could affect the number of residents who cast a vote.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai agreed that election turnout was not necessarily an indicator of success.
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But Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing on Saturday said the numbers were important and that candidates needed to secure the public’s recognition and endorsement.
Lee on Tuesday said more than 30,000 government employees would be involved in election-related duties. Civil servants had a responsibility to help implement the poll, which was an important governance measure, he added.
