“ONE SIDED”
The councillors for Hong Kong’s 18 districts handle mostly local-level issues – like sanitation, transport routes, or the adequacy of public facilities.
But after Sunday’s election, they will “behave as local consultative bodies in name, and as the government’s echo chamber in practice”, said Kenneth Chan, a political scientist at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
“This is about achieving 100 per cent political control above all,” he told AFP.
Senior officials have rejected concerns about potentially low voter participation, with Erick Tsang, the constitutional affairs minister overseeing the election, saying that “the turnout rate cannot be an indicator of the (new) system’s success”.
Some residents expressed apathy about the exercise on the eve of the election.
“What’s the point of voting? The political atmosphere is one-sided,” said a resident surnamed Ng.
More than 12,000 police officers were deployed across the city to prevent disturbances in the election, according to local media.
Five people were arrested on Sunday, including three activists and a couple, one of whom worked for the government.
The League of Social Democrats – one of the city’s last remaining opposition groups – said it planned to stage a protest and that three of its members were followed from home and arrested by the police in the city’s Central District.
Police said the trio were “attempting to incite others to disrupt district council elections”.
The League called the arrest “extremely ironic and ridiculous” on an election day that was supposed to reflect various public opinions.
Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption said it had arrested a couple for allegedly “leaving a comment” on a social media post which incited people to cast invalid ballots.
On Friday, the national security police arrested a 77-year-old man for an “attempt to carry out seditious acts”.
A 38-year-old man was charged on Tuesday for reposting a video of an overseas commentator that allegedly incited people to boycott the election.
Source: CNA
