Hong Kong elections: Tsunami of disaffection washes over city

This story is being revealed by POLITICO as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Publish. It initially appeared on scmp.com on Nov. 25, 2019.

The anti-establishment reverberations from virtually six months of road protests swept by means of polling stations throughout Hong Kong on Sunday, as voters in document numbers roundly rejected pro-Beijing candidates in favor of pan-democrats.

The tsunami of disaffection among voters was clear across the board, as pan-democrats rode the wave to win massive in poor and wealthy neighborhoods, in each protest-prone and non protest-afflicted districts and, in downtown areas in addition to the suburbs.

Much less instantly apparent was whether or not there was a generational divide in the best way the individuals voted, however ousted pro-establishment district councilors advised that young, first-time voters had been instrumental in dislodging them from their perch.

By 7 a.m., the pro-democracy camp had gained a majority in at least 12 of the 18 district councils, taking 278 seats.

All councils have been beforehand beneath pro-establishment management from the 2015 elections.

Youthful, fresh-faced candidates, lots of whom have been lively in the anti-government protests roiling the town over the previous six months, have been among outstanding winners of the historic district council elections which had a record turnout of 2.94 million voters, representing 71.2 per cent of registered electors, up from the previous determine of 47 per cent in 2015.

In a shocking setback that would pressure an inner reshuffle, the town’s largest pro-establishment celebration, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), which fielded 179 candidates, gained solely 21 seats as of 5.30 a.m. on Monday.

Their chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king defended her seat in To Kwa Wan North, Kowloon Metropolis district. Lee fended off former lawmaker “Lengthy Hair” Leung Kwok-hung of the pro-democracy camp.

The dramatically changing colour of the 452-member district council map from the predominantly blue stronghold of the pro-Beijing ranks, which held 292 seats before the polls, to the pan-democratic camp’s yellow hue turned clear from early on as counting began when polls closed at 10.30 p.m.

The professional-Beijing camp had solely managed to safe 42 seats, as of 7 a.m. Monday. Independents, who usually are not endorsed by either camp, have gained 24 seats.

Though the district councils deal with local matters and haven't any direct say over the chief government’s program, the elections have been seen as a barometer of help either for the anti-government protest movement or for the embattled leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her dealing with of the roiling unrest.

With the thrashing suffered by the pro-Beijing camp, the authorities’s allies, it will seem Lam’s position might develop into extra much more troublesome, whilst she herself on Sunday tried to frame the elections to be one about district council issues.

The main upsets of the night time occurred barely an hour after vote counting began, with Junius Ho Kwan-yiu struggling the ignominy of being the primary and most excessive profile casualty of the anti-establishment backlash, followed quickly after by veteran lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun.

Ho, who turned a hated determine for the pro-democracy motion in the town after he was filmed shaking palms with males believed to have been involved in a vicious assault on protesters and passengers at Yuen Lengthy MTR station on July 21, did not win any sympathy votes despite suffering a knife attack just three weeks before the elections.

Ho lost to democrat Cary Lo Chun-yu who unseated him from his Lok Tsui constituency in Tuen Mun, profitable three,474 votes while Ho netted solely 2,278 votes. The third candidate, Chiang Ching-man, obtained only 49 votes.

In a Facebook submit, Ho described his loss as “unusual” and “regrettable.” He gained extra votes this time but not enough to hold his seat.

“I’m moved, the opposition overwhelmed me with congratulations. It isn't a nasty factor to rework their brutality to concord,” he wrote.

Lawmaker Tien lost his seat in Discovery Park in Tsuen Wan to pro-democracy candidate Lau Cheuk-yu. “I respect the citizens’s choice,” Tien stated.

The politician, recognized for his outspoken ways and dubbed the dangerous boy of the pro-Beijing camp, stated he had the identical number of votes as beforehand however suspected he lost out due to first-time voters.

“If that’s true, it means younger individuals are not insensitive to politics,” Tien stated, including the federal government would have to take heed to the voice of young individuals.

Different pro-establishment bigwigs have been among the many largest losers. DAB’s Holden Chow Ho-ding, Horace Cheung, Vincent Cheng, and Edward Lau have been among these ousted.

Cheung, who's a member of Lam’s government council or staff of advisers, stated it was too early to draw any agency conclusions on the outcomes. His social gathering can be holding a central committee meeting to talk about the election consequence.

The losses sustained by the DAB have been harking back to that which it confronted in 2003. Again then, solely 62 out of 206 candidates gained in the staunchly pro-Beijing social gathering. That got here after half one million individuals took to the streets to oppose the proposal to enact national security laws underneath Article 23 of the Primary Regulation.

The devastating election results prompted the resignation of Jasper Tsang Yok-sing. Any submit mortem carried out by the celebration is more likely to lead to a shake-up of its key management.

Federation of Trade Unions’ legislators Alice Mak Mei-kuen and Ho Kai-ming have been among different veterans booted out. Mak, who gained current notoriety for uttering an expletive at Lam during a closed-door meeting over the decision to withdraw the extradition bill, blamed her loss on the administration.

“The administration’s governance has given rise to so many public grievances. Within the election marketing campaign, pro-government candidates have been unfairly treated. This can be a essential purpose,” Mak stated

She stated she had been serving her constituents diligently for greater than 1 / 4 of a century however in a divided society, “it’s not about our work, it’s about our political stance.”

Among the young winners, no less than 5 activists from the Occupy motion of 2014, which opposed Beijing’s electoral reforms, gained seats, nudging out veterans.

Occupy scholar activist Lester Shum, who ousted Chow Ping-tim in Hoi Bun district, was emotional in victory. “The government should respond to our 5 demands as quickly as potential,” he stated. “We might be completely happy for tonight and take a relaxation tomorrow, however we'll want to keep up our struggle the day after for the future of Hong Kong.”

The five demands have been the clarion call of protesters during the previous six months of demonstrations, sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition invoice, which had since morphed into a full-blown anti-government motion that has resulted in increasingly violent clashes with police.

The five calls for are for the withdrawal of the bill, an agreement to not name the clashes of June 12 a riot, amnesty for those arrested on that day, a commission inquiry into allegations of extreme use of pressure by the police and a push for genuine universal suffrage.

All five Occupy activists have been prime movers of the peaceful protests over the past months. Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, the organiser of the mass marches of the motion, was additionally amongst those elected. Sham, who was still sporting crutches and recovering from an attack by hammer-wielding thugs, referred to as on Lam to take heed to the individuals’s voice and handle the 5 demands.

“I hoped the pro-democracy bloc might win more than half of the seats in district council elections,” Sham stated. He hoped the pan-democrats would attempt their greatest to carry out their duties to prove that “supporters of democracy are more outstanding than those who help the establishment.”

Another key winner was Kelvin Lam, 40, who replaced Occupy co-founder Joshua Wong Chi-fung on the ticket after the latter was banned from operating due to his stance on self-determination. Lam beat incumbent Judy Chan of the New Individuals’s Get together by 4,100 votes to 3,100 in the South Horizons West constituency.

“The excessive turnout price did benefit the pro-democracy camp,” Kelvin Lam stated. “The end result is sort of a referendum of the present administration, like a confidence vote.”

The landslide success by the pan-democrats also tilted the facility stability at several of the 18 district councils, which had long been dominated by pro-government politicians. In Wan Chai district council, which had one pro-democracy councillor earlier than the Sunday polls, pan-democrats secured more than half of 13 seats and gained the majority. An analogous consequence was on the playing cards for Wong Tai Sin district council.

With pan-democrats set to experience the brand new momentum, their problem will probably be to harness their new-found energy at the district council degree. If earlier than, the government might rely on the pro-establishment controlled district councils to rubber-stamp its measures on municipal affairs, it's all but sure that there will now be gridlock with each side set to clash on decision-making.

One key problem for the democrats shall be to drive concessions out of Lam and her authorities, especially on resolving the current political impasse over the protesters’ demands. Lam had insisted she would not tackle any of their calls for until the town returned to calm and order, after more and more radical acts by demonstrators who have attacked metro stations and outlets linked to the mainland and disrupted visitors and barricaded roads
.
More than 5,000 individuals have been arrested because the protests began in early June and radicals have turn into increasingly extra violent in their clashes with police. On Sunday, anything but black appeared to be the brand new black, as protesters studiously prevented sporting the colour, as agreed on their telegram channels.

Because the outcomes rolled into the early hours of Monday, on LIHKG, the Reddit-like virtual command middle of protesters, there was much celebration but in addition reflection on the subsequent steps ahead. The victory was however a small milestone, stated some, with more yet to be achieved of their pursuit of democracy.

Article originally revealed on POLITICO Magazine

Src: Hong Kong elections: Tsunami of disaffection washes over city
==============================
New Smart Way Get BITCOINS!
CHECK IT NOW!
==============================