Hong Kongers shun ‘patriots only’ polls as turnout plummets to 27.5%

• Hong Kong residents shunned the city’s district council election on Sunday, with voter turnout sharply dropping despite relentless efforts by the government to boost the numbers.
• All candidates were screened, leaving a lineup filled with Beijing loyalists and no one from the pro-democracy camp.
• The turnout ended up at 27.54% with 1,193,193 out of 4.3 million eligible voters taking part, the city’s Electoral Affairs Commission said on Monday.
• The figures are significantly lower than the previous district council election held in November 2019, when the turnout rate was 71.23% as 2.94 million people voted.
• Four years ago, young voters had been instrumental in a landslide victory by the pro-democracy camp, which won over 80% of the total seats in 18 districts and took an absolute majority in all district councils
• A survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia Pacific Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, published in September, found that 63% of residents were uninterested in politics because they felt their participation would be in vain
• Three members of the pro-democracy group League of Social Democrats were detained on Sunday morning, as they tried to reach the location where the city’s Chief Executive John Lee was casting his ballot — apparently to deliver in person a message of discontent over the erosion of democracy.

External Link : https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hong-Kong-security-law/Hong-Kongers-shun-patriots-only-polls-as-turnout-plummets-to-27.5