Election tests Hong Kong's stomach for defying Beijing
Hong Kong by-elections were held on March 11, with pro-democracy candidates unable to regain all of their lost seats after the disqualification of pro-democracy legislators past year, following their refusal to take an oath of loyalty to authorities in Beijing.
With the loss of two seats to the Pro-Beijing camp, the pro-autonomy, pan-democratic alliance has lost their power of veto in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, since they now do not possess one-third of the chamber's 70 votes, the minimum necessary to block legislation.
However, pro-establishment politician Judy Chan (陳家珮), standing against Au, said the vote was a chance for "the silent majority, who are exhausted of a politicized Hong Kong, who detest those who humiliate the country" to push out destabilizing opponents.
Pro-democracy candidate Agnes Chow, who had hoped to replace disqualified lawmaker and activist Nathan Law, was barred from running at the last minute because she advocated for Hong Kongers to determine their own future.
"If we lose today, the government and the pro-establishment forces will get their way, and we won't see any system to speak of under the rule of Xi Jinping, who is now effectively declaring himself an emperor", 21-year-old student democracy activist Wong wrote on his Facebook page upon news of a low turnout rate.
The result is the latest blow to the democratic movement as China ups pressure on the semi-autonomous city to fall into line after unprecedented challenges including mass rallies calling for reform and the emergence of an independence movement.
Turnout in the four constituencies that cast ballots was 43%, much lower than previous elections in 2016, when turnout was 58.3%. The overall turnout was 52.27 per cent by this time during the 2016 general legislative election.
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The arrangement allows Hong Kong a degree of electoral freedom not enjoyed on the mainland, although Beijing ruled out universal suffrage for the city in 2014, sparking a huge street protest that became known as the Umbrella Movement. A fourth seat, chosen by architects and surveyors, had a turnout of almost 25 percent. About half of the council's seats are chosen by mainly pro-Beijing business and trade groups.
Only one disqualified lawmaker, Edward Yiu, was competing again after officials unexpectedly approved his candidacy. Two remaining empty seats will be decided later because they're the subject of ongoing legal action.
Governments and rights groups have expressed concern about the disqualifications.
"The by-election is a chance for the silent majority, who are exhausted of a politicised Hong Kong, who detest those who humiliate the country, to come out and tell those politicians that Hong Kong has no room for them", Chan told AFP. It called on the government to cancel the election and reinstate the lawmakers.
For decades, democracy advocates have been pushing for more representative democracy in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese control in 1997.
Half of the seats in Hong Kong's Legislative Council are directly elected by voters in geographic constituencies, while the other half are so-called functional constituencies, largely composed of industry groups that lean toward the establishment. Many viewed the Hong Kong by-elections a test of the city's voters' willpower to continue defying Beijing. But they have very different interpretations of what that means.
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