HONG KONG - Hong Kongers voted in record numbers Sunday in a local election that is widely seen as a de facto referendum on recent pro-democracy protests.
Voters formed long lines that snaked around city blocks outside polling stations across the territory, many waiting more than an hour to vote in local elections that are usually viewed as relatively inconsequential.
District Council members who are being elected by Hong Kong voters have no power to pass legislation. But the election is the first chance for Hong Kongers to vote since a wave of anti-government protests erupted in June, creating bitter divides in Hong Kong society.
A record 4.1 million Hong Kongers registered to vote, and it appears a record number will turn out. By midday Sunday, the number of voters had surpassed that of the previous District Council election in 2015, according to government figures. By 3:30 p.m., nearly 2 million had cast their ballots.
Disqualified candidate and pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong stands in line to vote in the district council elections in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.
“This amount of people I’ve never seen. There are so many people,” said Felix, who works in the real estate industry and voted in the central business district.
Mr. Ma, a voter in the South Horizons West constituency, said he sees the election as a continuation of the protest movement.
“It’s a way to show whether the Hong Kong people support democratic or conservative pro-establishment candidates. Many would like to have a change. So this election is very important,” he said.
“The district councils have been dominated by the pro-establishment for years. We want to have more democrats to be elected to the district councils,” said Ms. Kwok, another voter.
The territory is on edge following intense clashes between police and groups of mostly student protesters, though the violence has subsided in the past few days.
Police promised a heavy security presence at voting locations. But outside many polling stations, there was no visible police presence. At others, teams of riot police stood by in nearby vans.
An electoral staff member helps a voter at a polling station during district council local elections in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.
Sending a message
Hong Kongers are choosing more than 400 members of 18 district councils scattered across the tiny territory. The district councils essentially serve as advisory bodies for local decisions such as building roads or schools.
“I think the political message is more important than anything else,” Ma Ngok, a political scientist and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said. “If the democrats really score a landslide victory, it will show very clearly that the public is in support of the movement.”
Hong Kong has seen five months of pro-democracy protests. The protests initially took the form of massive demonstrations against a reviled extradition bill, which could have resulted in Hong Kongers being tried in China’s politicized court system.
The protests have escalated in recent weeks, with smaller groups of hard-core protesters destroying public infrastructure, defacing symbols of state power and clashing with police. Protesters defend the moves as an appropriate reaction to police violence and the government’s refusal to meet their demands.
Protesters address the media at the campus of the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.
Despite the protester violence, polls suggest the movement still enjoys widespread public support. Meanwhile, the approval of Hong Kong’s Beijing-friendly chief executive, Carrie Lam, has fallen to a record low of about 20%.
Quasi-democratic system
Under Hong Kong’s quasi-democratic system, district councils have little power. But the vote could affect how the territory’s more influential Legislative Council and chief executive are selected in the future.
“That’s a big deal,” said Emily Lau, a former Legislative Council member and prominent member of the pro-democracy camp. “Because of this constitutional linkage, it makes the significance of the district council much bigger than its powers show you.”
FILE - Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau talks to a girl, Aug. 24, 2016, while she campaigns in Hong Kong. After two decades as a pro-democracy lawmaker, Lau expects to step down to give priority on the ballot to the party's younger faces.
The pro-democracy camp has tried to use the protests as a mobilizing force ahead of the vote, and is fielding an unprecedented number of candidates.
But they have a lot of ground to make up. Pro-government forces make up the majority in all 18 district councils, with the so-called “pan-democrats” taking up only about 25% of the overall seats, Ma said.
Hong Kong has seen a major surge in voter registrations, particularly among young people. Nearly 386,000 people have registered to vote in the past year — the most since at least 2003 — according to the South China Morning Post.
Many Hong Kongers are concerned about what they see as an erosion of the “one country, two systems” policy that Beijing has used to govern Hong Kong since it was returned by Britain in 1997.