Hong Kong district council election: senior officials fan out across city and make eleventh-hour appeal to boost turnout in first ‘patriots-only’ municipal poll
- City leader John Lee tours polling stations as ministers appear across city to promote first district council election since ‘patriots-only’ overhaul of governing system
- Government organises string of events aimed at drumming up enthusiasm for poll, but residents divided on the effectiveness
The government’s weeks-long drive to drum up enthusiasm for the poll culminated with a concert replete with drones and fireworks that drew thousands of people. While some residents told the Post they had now decided to vote on Sunday, others were less convinced, saying the spectacle had no effect on their decision.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai told a TV programme aired in the morning that authorities would carefully watch for any disruptions to the poll.
“There are still some anti-China disrupters looking for opportunities to sabotage the administration’s governance and we’ve been watching out for these people,” he said. “If there are people who use soft resistance to deliberately smear, defame and spread rumours about the election, we’ll treat them seriously.”
Under the overhauled system, 4.3 million registered voters can cast ballots for 88 directly elected seats, out of 470 in total. The city’s leader will choose 179, local committees will decide another 176 and rural leaders will hold the remaining 27. No opposition candidates received the endorsements needed to qualify.
The district councils were revamped to align with Beijing’s “patriots only” policy, with the proportion of directly elected seats cut by more than 90 per cent to less than 20 per cent.
Tsang also accompanied Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu for an inspection of a polling station in Heng Fa Chuen, with the city leader urging Hongkongers to vote.
“The staff there have reminded us that voters should only put one tick on their ballot papers, otherwise they will be invalid,” Lee said. “I have full confidence in Sunday’s election … I call on electors to cast their votes tomorrow.”
Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, the city’s No 2 official, toured another polling station as other top ministers took to the streets and appeared at events to encourage people to cast their ballots.
Home affairs minister Alice Mak Mei-kuen met residents outside Central Market in the morning, while later in the day, commerce chief Algernon Yau Ying-wah handed out leaflets and souvenirs at Tsuen Wan Park.
Development chief Bernadette Linn Hon-ho joined a herbal tea sampling event at a heritage site in Sham Shui Po, while Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan took to Facebook to promote the election.
“The creativity demonstrated by my colleagues in the publicity drive is surprising, and their efforts to hit the streets for public promotion in their spare time are also touching,” Yeung wrote.
The call to action came amid concerns from some pundits over a low turnout as residents struggled to understand the changes to the electoral system.
Hong Kong district council election candidates confront apathy, public confusion
A Post check of Google data showed the search traffic for the term “district council” in the first week of December was one-tenth of the level for the week of the last such election in November 2019 amid the anti-government protests that year. A record 71 per cent of Hong Kong’s registered voters took part in the past poll.
The promotion drive on Saturday also saw the government roll out an “Election Fun Day” that offered outdoor concerts, sport activities, drone show, exhibitions and fairs, as well as free-entry to public museums.
In the evening, the Post observed scores of revellers packing the promenade of the West Kowloon Cultural District to watch a pyrotechnics display and drone show. When the drones formed a pattern that read “vote tomorrow”, spectators applauded.
Those staying at home could catch a live three-hour variety show carried by the city’s free-to-air television and radio broadcasters, while a crowd of about 4,000 people attended a concert by Cantopop boy band Grasshopper and 80s icon Priscilla Chan Wai-han.
Couple Eric and Vicky Au, both age 51, said the event was the largest government push to get people to vote they had seen.
“I think the intentions are good,” Vicky Au said. “The government wants more people to select their district councillors.”
The pair said they would cast their votes on Sunday since it was important to help turn around the city’s post-pandemic fortunes.
“We need to vote to give more of our thoughts to the government,” IT industry worker Eric Au said. “Hopefully, through voting, we can select a good person to represent our district.”
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District council polls overhaul: Hong Kong’s latest step towards ‘patriots-only’ governance
Bob Fu, who works in education, attended the concert with his wife and two children. He noted the scale of the promotion effort, but stopped short of saying whether he felt it would get people voting.
“I think it’s difficult to tell at this moment,” the 40 year-old said. “I don’t think people are that motivated because there isn’t that much competition.”
In Wan Chai, the Christmas-themed “Harbourfront is One and All” event failed to draw a similarly sized crowd earlier in the afternoon. The show boasted a children’s choir and a Santa Claus but featured few activities to promote the poll.
While treasury chief Christopher Hui Ching-yu made a brief appearance to hand out pamphlets, a promotional booth remained unstaffed until later in the day.
Video editor Divina Ma, 31, said she only spotted the event as she, her husband and their two-year-old daughter were walking on their way to an MTR station.
But she had no plans to vote, despite taking part in past district-level polls, citing a lack of political diversity among the candidates.
“The choices are A, B, or C, but really they are all the same,” she said. “It’s not up to us.”
Homemaker Theola Lee said she planned to vote, but felt the candidates in her constituency had gone largely unseen because they were campaigning across drastically expanded districts.
“It’s the right of citizens to vote,” the 36-year-old said. “Not much can be done by a single vote, but I want to vote out those people I don’t like.”
The government also waived entry fees for all publicly run museums. The Post observed about two dozen people lining up outside the Museum of Art for the free admission just two minutes before it opened at 10am.
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Retiree Jack Chan said he and a friend were taking the chance to visit the special exhibition on Italy’s Uffizi Galleries. But the 60-year-old added that the promotion efforts could do little to convince residents to vote, even if they stayed in Hong Kong over the weekend.
“The candidates are not the people we want to vote for,” he said. “It’s better off to appoint all of them to save public money.”
Across the border, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Xia Baolong attended a conference at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and called for establishing a commanding narrative on the “one country, two systems” governing principle.
Beijing’s top man for Hong Kong affairs also called on participants to build “a reservoir of research talent” to support studies concerning the city and Macau.
