Hong Kong, decked out in colorful posters and flags, yesterday voted in district-level elections that are to mark the first real test of public sentiment since pro-democracy protests crippled parts of the Chinese territory last year.
About 900 candidates are competing for 431 seats in 18 district councils, at a time when people are divided over the pace of political reform.
The results, due late yesterday, are to provide insight into how a Legislative Council election due next year and a controversial leadership poll in 2017 could pan out.
The 79-day demonstrations last year, when activists streamed onto highways to demand full democracy for the former British colony, became the biggest political challenge to the Chinese Communist Party’s leaders in years.
The protests failed to persuade China to allow a fully democratic vote in 2017. Beijing says city voters have to choose from a list of candidates it has approved.
However, they triggered what many in the financial center see as a political awakening, which has included a lively debate over how much control China’s central government should have.
Scores of new candidates have come forward since the protests, including Steve Ng Wing-tak (伍永德), 30, a former chef.
“Without the Umbrella movement, I would definitely not have run for the district council,” Ng said, referring to the democracy demonstrations. “I would’ve been more politically apathetic than most.”
The city’s streets were festooned with banners and flags, while candidates and volunteers in sashes and colorful windbreakers handed out flyers to passersby.
“If you are fighting for democracy, but not actually participating in a democratic election, you are a bit of a hypocrite,” said 29-year-old candidate Edward Lau, who took part in the democracy protests.
Others said they would not vote for a candidate who took part in “troublemaking.”
“People should not stir up trouble,” a 79-year-old retiree surnamed Yung (翁) said. “I have voted for a candidate who thinks this way.”
One of the most keenly watched seats will be that of Albert Ho (何俊仁), a Democratic Party lawmaker who faces stiff competition in the gritty new town of Tuen Mun in the western New Territories.
District councilors wield little power, acting more in an advisory role, in which they can push forward policies for the government to consider.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS