The people of Hong Kong have spoken—but not through the sham election that Beijing and its marionettes on the island orchestrated this weekend.
Despite a government campaign to get more people to vote for members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council—including sending out mass text messages and offering free rides during election day—voter turnout was a dismal 30.2 percent, or 1.35 million out of the 4.47 million registered voters, the lowest in Hong Kong’s election history.
In contrast, voter turnout was 58 percent in 2016, before Beijing began jailing pro-democracy advocates and overhauled Hong Kong’s election system to reduce the number of directly elected seats and set up a vetting committee to screen all candidates, saying only “patriots” may administer the city.
Under the new setup, only 20 of the 90 legislative seats will be directly elected, with 40 picked by the pro-Beijing Election Committee and 30 chosen by special interest groups like business and trade –which also historically lean towards Beijing.
It is the first general election since China introduced a national security law that made it easier to punish pro-democracy protesters following massive demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019.
Many opposition or pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong have been jailed, shut out from the vote, or have gone into exile. In May, high-profile activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to 10 months in jail for taking part in an unauthorized vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
“People do not want to vote for a rubber-stamp chamber and pretend everything is all right,” tweeted Nathan Law, a former legislator who lives in the UK and is wanted by Hong Kong authorities.
Voting is not compulsory, but those who publicly encourage others to boycott elections or spoil their ballots as a form of protest against Beijing’s political revamp will be committing a crime carrying a jail sentence of up to three years under the law. That includes public communication through speeches, broadcasts, screening and playing of recordings, or publishing of materials such as e-mails or leaflets.
At least 10 people have been arrested for allegedly inciting others to skip Sunday’s vote or cast blank ballots.
China’s state media organization crowed that over 1 million cast their ballots in the “patriots-only” election, “crushing a campaign riddled with lies from external forces while demonstrating the true will of the people in the Chinese city.”
But the Hong Kong people, though silenced, are not easily fooled.
There were no crowds in polling places Sunday, but throngs of people flooded to amusement parks and a shopping expo, riding on the free public transport offered on election day.
It was crowded at Hong Kong Disneyland, and long queues appeared at Ocean Park and the Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo at Victoria Park.
Notwithstanding the Chinese propaganda machine, the people know when they are being taken for a ride.