The people of Hong Kong came out in record number to cast their vote in the Hong Kong’s District Council Elections amid continued unrest and violence
After more than 6 months of continued violence and unrest, the people of Hong Kong today, i.e., Sunday, November 24, 2019, came out in record number to cast their vote in the Hong Kong’s District Council Elections.
By lunchtime, the number of voters had already surpassed the final total of the 2015 elections. The total number of votes polled in 2015 elections were 1.4 million.
By 15:30 hours local time, nearly 2 million people, which is 47.26% of all registered voters, including 400,000 new voters, had come to vote as compared to 754,705 votes within the same timescale in the last such elections in 2015.
The polling stations opened at 7:30 a.m. local time and will close at 10:30 p.m. local time. The results are expected to be announced by midnight or Monday morning.
Amid fears of polling being called off, in case of any violence, people of all age groups appeared in large number participate in the elections. The election is seen as a test of support for Hong Kong’s embattled Chief Executive – Carrie Lam. People are seeing this as an opportunity to express their anger against Carrie Lam.
The queue was quiet and disciplined as voters ate breakfast in line and scrolled through their phones. Small squads of riot police were seen patrolling the polling booths.
After casting her vote, Carrie Lam said, “Facing the extremely challenging situation, I am pleased to say… we have a relatively calm and peaceful environment for (the) election today.”
Speaking on the occasion, a 33 years old voter said, “I would like to say no to the government, to what they have done these past few months. It makes me very angry Carrie Lam just doesn’t listen to Hong Kong. We’ve come out so many times and they don’t listen and make this situation worse.”
The District Council Elections deals with local livelihood issues, such as traffic and hygiene. Since June 2019, anger and fury have gripped the people of Hong Kong.
The trouble started over the now abandoned controversial Extradition Bill which if implemented, would have allowed China, Taiwan and Macau to place extradition request for suspects accused of criminal wrongdoings. The requests would have then been decided on a case-by-case basis. The Hong Kong Courts would have the right to make the final decision. However, owing to mass unrest, Carrie Lam later announced that the Government has suspended the controversial Extradition Bill.
The people see the elections as an opportunity to reiterate their demands, which include universal suffrage to choose Hong Kong’s leaders, an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality and amnesty for all those arrested in connection with the protests.
Prior to this, the Hong Kong’s Electoral Affairs Commission had called on the public to refrain from violence to support the holding of elections in a peaceful and orderly manner. The days running up to polls have been some of the most peaceful in months. To ensure the elections were not cancelled, protesters also called on the public to exercise restraint.
More than 1,000 candidates are contesting for 452 District Council seats which, for the first time, are all being contested. A further 27 seats are allocated to representatives of Rural Districts.
Few of the candidates contesting in the polls include Junius Ho and Jimmy Sham. It is to be noted Ho is a pro-Beijing lawmaker who has openly voiced his support for Hong Kong’s Police on multiple occasions. He was in July filmed shaking hands with a group of men who are suspected of being triad gangsters. Jimmy Sham, on the other hand, is a political activist who recently rose to prominence as the leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, the group responsible for organising protests in Hong Kong.
