Hong Kong polls see muted turnout

Electoral workers count votes for the legislative council election at a vote counting centre, in Hong Kong, China, yesterday.

Turnout was muted yesterday as Hong Kongers cast ballots for city lawmakers under Beijing’s new “patriots only” rules which drastically reduce the number of directly elected seats and control who can run for office. It is the first legislature poll under the new political blueprint China imposed on Hong Kong in response to massive and often violent pro-democracy protests two years ago. All candidates have been vetted for their patriotism and political loyalty to China and only 20 of the 90 legislature seats are being directly elected. The largest chunk of seats - 40 - are being picked by a committee of 1,500 staunch Beijing loyalists. The remaining 30 are chosen by reliably pro-Beijing committees that represent special-interest and industry groups. Polling stations closed at 10.30pm (1430GMT) after 14 hours of voting. The latest figures released by authorities showed only about 1.3mn people - 29% of the electorate - had cast their votes by 9:30pm. In 2016, 53% had cast votes by the same point. As Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam arrived to cast her vote yesterday morning, three protesters from the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats party chanted: “I want genuine universal suffrage”. “(Lam) said this was an improvement of the electoral system, but in reality, it stripped Hong Kongers of their right to vote,” activist Chan Po-ying told reporters. The government bought up newspaper front pages and billboards, sent flyers to every household, pinged mobile phones with reminders to vote and made public transport free for the day. Senior Chinese officials also called for Hong Kongers to vote.