Polling stations opened yesterday in Hong Kong district elections that are seen as a showdown between pro-Beijing and democratic candidates months after a mass protest against the government.
District council elections typically grapple with local issues, but observers say pro-Beijing politicians who are key government allies could face trouble this year due to massive anger against Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
Some analysts predicted that disgruntled voters would turn out in droves to express their fury at the government by electing opposition candidates.
Four hours after polling stations opened, about one-tenth of some 2.4 million registered voters had cast their ballots to fill 326 contested seats on 18 District Councils. The figure was up 28 percent from the 191,669 voters within the first four hours of the 1999 election.
Three hours after polling stations opened, about 160,000 of some 2.4 million registered voters had cast their ballots to fill 326 contested seats on 18 District Councils.
The figure was up 29 percent from the 123,806 voters within the first three hours of the 1999 election. The polls will close at 10:30pm, but it's uncertain when the preliminary results would be available.
Calls for faster democratic reforms have been growing since 500,000 people marched on July 1 against a proposed anti-subversion law.
The huge protest threw Tung's government into the biggest crisis since he was hand-picked by Beijing to run the former British colony. Tung was forced to back down on the measure.
Before the July 1 rally, the territory's top pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, or DAB, was expected to emerge the biggest winner in yesterday's election, with its strong grassroots network and focus on district work.
But the party, which initially backed Tung's plan to enact the law, might now suffer a setback from the pro-democracy candidates, said Joseph Cheng, professor of politics at the City University of Hong Kong.
A pre-election survey by Baptist University showed that DAB's popularity had plunged since the march, with public dissatisfaction against the party surging to 74 percent from 53 percent during the 1999 district councils election.
Last time, the opposition Democratic Party won 86 seats, while the DAB took 83.
But the big test for DAB is the Legislative Council elections next September, when the people would be allowed to pick half of the 60 legislative seats, as opposed to 24 last time. The rest will be chosen by special interest groups.
Party bosses have said that losses at yesterday's contest would force them to change strategy, which would likely mean less support for Tung's government -- further hampering the rule of the already highly unpopular leader.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese