Hong Kong Sunday (December 10) held a new district council election.As of 7:30 pm, the voting rate was only 24.53%. After that, the computer system of multiple voting stations in multiple districts failed, and the official announcement of the voting time was extended to midnight.However, under the cold response of citizens, this election may set a new low since Hong Kong returned to China in 1997.
The scholars of the interviewed believe that the district council election does not have democratic participation in competition, and although the Hong Kong government has made full publicity in recent months, the final voting rate is still low.And improve governance.
District Council is a consulting organization in Hong Kong. The main function is to provide opinions on government affairs for government affairs.However, because the district councilor was selected in the form of "one person, one vote", it was a disguised election that was able to reflect public opinion in the past.
This year's district council election is the first district election after the Hong Kong re -election system. Among them, the direct election seats have been greatly reduced from 452 to 88.In addition, anyone must obtain nominations for the "Regional Committee", which is commonly known as the "Three Meetings" before the election.
Since there are no non -establishment people to become candidates in the end, only the establishment of the preparations in this region is running.According to Hong Kong media reports, Beijing officials refer to the legislature elections under the new system held last year, and set the goal of at least 30 % of the voting rate.
In the past month, the Hong Kong Government's overwhelming publicity district council elections include the "Selection of Colorful Days" on the eve of the voting, convene nearly 100 well -known singers and artists to host large -scale concerts, and more than 180 elderly centers in the voting daily vote.A funding for more than HK $ 20,000 (over 3,400 yuan) is issued to provide the elderly with voting pick -up services.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Li Jiachao voted on Sunday morning that the selection of the district has a personal relationship with all citizens, because each voter lives in one of the area 18 districts in Hong Kong. Their opinions can be reported to the government in the future to the government.EssenceHe called on voters to cherish a vote in their hands and voted enthusiastically.
However, the scene of multiple ticket stations is deserted.Lianhe Zaobao reporter saw in a polling station in Tseung Kwan O, on Sunday at noon. There were far more staff members present than voters who came to vote, and some people chatted outside the door.
This year's district council election, the deadline for voting directly in the region is 10:30 pm on Sunday, but at 7:40 pm, the computer system of multiple district voting stations failed, and some voters could not vote.The Election Management Committee finally announced that the voting time was extended for 1 and a half hours to midnight.
As of 7:30 pm, the voting rate of local constituency was 24.53%, and nearly 1.063 million voters had voted.
Reverse information, regardless of this year's district election, Hong Kong held six district parliamentary elections after returning in 1997.The lowest voting rate was 1999, only 35.82%.As for the district selection held during the 2019 anti -repair campaign, there is a record of about 71%of the voting rate.
Chen Weiqiang, a lecturer of Hong Kong University of Technology Hong Kong Specialty College, pointed out in the United Morning Post. Generally speaking, the number of people voting at night will be much less than during the day.Judging from the voting rate as of the evening, this year's district election vote rate will definitely be less than 30 %, a new low since the return of 1997.
Chen Weiqiang said that there are multiple reasons for the low voting rate of this area. One is that the constituency is ten times larger than before, and it is difficult for candidates to vote.
But Chen Weiqiang also believes that the Hong Kong Government and the Institutional Fair have gone out of the nest in the past two months, using different methods to promote the election, and the final voting rate is still very low.fault.
Liu Zhaojia, a consultant of the China Hong Kong and Macau Research Association, believes that at this stage, the proportion of opposition to forces and their supporters in district councils is still many.In the past, the voting rate of the district council was about 30 %; if the vote rate of the district council election was not less than 20 %, it was already a good result.
But Liu Zhaojia believes that with the continuous growth of patriotism and the effectiveness of local governance in Hong Kong, the voting rate of the district council election will increase after the day.He believes that the Hong Kong government and patriotic forces are actively investing in publicity and mobilization, and the patriotic power shows unprecedented unity. Under the pattern of governing Hong Kong in the future, Hong Kong's good politics and good governance and the stability of the "one country, two systems" have a positive significance.
