HONG KONG – Defying warnings from local officials that Hong Kong’s unofficial primary opposition vote could be illegal under a new security law, hundreds of thousands of people chose declaredly pro-democratic candidates to participate in the city’s elections this year, they showed the results released on Monday.
Early returns showed that the more than 600,000 people who had voted favored candidates who were prominent supporters of the months of protests that gripped the semi-autonomous Chinese city. His elections indicated a desire to see the objectives of the protest movement pressured within the government itself, but could lead to an increasingly intense confrontation with the authorities, which could prevent some from running.
“A lot of people came out to vote despite the threat that they might violate national security law,” said Lester Shum, a 27-year-old activist and candidate who was among the top candidates on Monday. “That means that the people of Hong Kong have not yet given up.”
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement has been hampered by mass arrests in protests and by the new security law, which prohibits the crimes of secession, subversion and terrorism that are loosely defined and is already working to silence dissent. They say the only remaining way to resist Beijing’s tight grip on the city is to capture a majority in the legislature in September.
The obstacles are huge. Hong Kong’s electoral system has long been weighed in favor of the establishment backed by the Chinese Communist Party. The pro-Beijing parties are much better funded than the opposition.
Now they must contend with the new far-reaching national security law imposed by the Chinese central government that makes speaking out against the authorities possibly criminal. Opposition candidates, whose calls for democratic freedoms could be viewed as hostile to China’s ruling Communist Party, say they fear whoever has protested the law may be disqualified from the race or jailed. Even if they did get elected, there was no guarantee that the party would allow them to rule.
Supporters of the democratic camp have been grappling with depending on or abandoning family and moderate politicians in favor of more troubled candidates, and those disagreements have threatened to divide the vote.
The informal primaries last weekend to help determine who should show up in September tried to avoid that split. Among the leaders were activists like Joshua Wong, who led the big street protests in 2014 for freer elections, and Ted Hui and Roy Kwong, young lawmakers who often attempted to mediate between protesters and police during last year’s riots.
“They are in favor of choosing people who have a strong track record in the protest movement so that the protests can continue” within the legislative body, said Ma Ngok, an associate professor of political science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Those who have strong recognition in the protests stand out, regardless of their parties.”
Participation accounted for more than half of the opposition’s votes in 2016, and was several times greater than organizers expected. Voters flocked to polling stations set up on the sidewalks as well as in unconventional locations such as a lingerie store and a converted double-decker bus.
Joyce Leung, a 35-year-old mother of two young children, said she had decided to vote for candidates who regularly attended the protests despite the risk of being excluded from the competition.
“I think they will definitely be disqualified,” he said Sunday, after voting at a polling station on the Hong Kong Island sidewalk surrounded by apartment buildings, office towers and coffee shops. “But I still wanted to show them that a lot of people are supporting them.”
Hong Kong’s electoral system has never been the same. Britain had little interest in democracy when she ran the city, and China quickly weakened the promise that the entire legislature would be elected, by maintaining the British colonial system of limited voting.
Only half of the 70 seats in the legislature represent geographic districts that are directly elected by voters. The other half are so-called functional groups, the majority chosen by corporate voting and most likely to go to establishment candidates. That inclined system has historically discouraged some Hong Kong residents from participating.
But in November, after months of fierce and sometimes violent anti-government protests, voters flocked in large numbers to an election by Hong Kong district councilors, a low-level office that previously drew little attention. More than seven in 10 eligible voters voted, compared with a previous high of 47 percent, and achieved an impressive victory for the pro-democracy camp, which swept 86 percent of the seats.
That victory shocked Beijing and encouraged protesters to set their sights on the Legislative Council’s most ambitious election goal, a much more powerful body. His objective has acquired an extra urgency like other signs of dissent they have become increasingly dangerous under the new security law.
Sage Ip, a 29-year-old stewardess who cast her vote Sunday at a community office, said she voted in the primaries because she was concerned she would never have a chance to do so again. “Voting is something that is still within our capacity. We can no longer express ourselves in the protests. ”
Police now regularly ban marches, citing violence and coronavirus prevention measures, and sweep hundreds of protesters in mass arrests.
“In order to cast your vote, you don’t need to risk your life,” Benny Tai, a professor of law at the University of Hong Kong and a leading opposition strategist, said in June. “I would say that it is a form of protest that does not actually present risks. Then why not? Why not use your vote to buy an opportunity?
Gwyneth Ho, a 29-year-old former journalist who emerged as a leader in her district on Monday, urged supporters of democracy to continue fighting, regardless of the possibilities.
“We all know that we do something not because it is effective or because it is successful,” she called to passengers passing her in front of a busy subway station on a recent Wednesday late last month. “It is because we cannot surrender on any front.”
If pro-democracy candidates could capture a majority in the legislature, they could use their position to block the government’s agenda. Some have proposed vetoing the government budget, which could force the legislature to dissolve. If a new legislature also blocked the budget, the executive director would be forced to resign.
Erick Tsang, secretary of constitutional affairs, cited such a threat when he warned last week that pro-democracy camp primaries could potentially violate articles of the new national security law against secession and subversion.
Carrie Lam, the Hong Kong leader, repeated Mr. Tsang’s warning on Monday that if the primary objective was to hand over a legislative majority to “resist all political initiatives” by the Hong Kong government, then “it could fall into category of subverting state power “under the new security law.
But the electoral momentum also showed divisions within the opposition movement. Some candidates who advocate more aggressive tactics declined to participate in the pro-democracy camp primaries, arguing that voters should be able to choose from the full range of candidates in September. More moderate voices have argued that voters should be strategic rather than ideological, and should join the candidates most likely to win.
A significant threat looms over all the pro-democracy camp’s plans: disqualification.
In the last legislative elections, several candidates were barred from competing over questions about whether they recognized Beijing’s position that Hong Kong was an “inalienable part” of China. Six who won later lost their seats because they protested China during their oaths. This year, many opponents fear that election officials will also exclude candidates who have questioned the new security law.
Shum, who campaigned on the street stall with Ms. Ho, said his ultimate goal was for the pro-democracy camp to win so many seats that Beijing would be forced to take drastic measures in response, such as disqualifying all elected lawmakers. She said she hoped that such extreme action would provoke an international response in support of the protesters.
But others warn that any large-scale rejection of pro-democracy candidates by the government could spark the Hong Kong eruption.
“This time we are talking about the possibility of obtaining more than half of the seats, but I think the reality is that we may not be allowed to participate in the elections,” said Fernando Cheung, a veteran opposition lawmaker who resigns. . this year.
“If that happens, anger and frustration would be extreme,” he said. “I am afraid the confrontation would be much worse.”
