Voting for the legislative council election, which is the parliament of Hong Kong, is being held on the 19th.
With the change in the electoral system led by China's Xi Jinping leadership, it is certain that pro-Chinese will gain an overwhelming majority.
Citizens' interest is low due to China-led system change Is voter turnout the lowest ever?
This is the first time that Hong Kong's legislative council elections have been held since March, when China's Xi Jinping leadership, which advocates "government by patriots," decided to change the election system. I am running for office.
Due to the change, the number of seats decided by direct voting by citizens will be reduced to 20 seats, and the remaining 70 seats will be selected by the representative of the industry closely related to China, as well as the "election commissioner" who is almost monopolized by pro-Chinese. increase.
In addition, the conditions for running for the pro-democracy became stricter, and all the pro-democracy parties abandoned the candidacy.
The Chinese government has repeatedly emphasized that "changes in the system do not eliminate pro-democracy," but only about 10 candidates claim to be pro-democracy or centrist, and pro-Chinese have the overwhelming majority. It's a certain situation.
For this reason, public interest is low, and there is widespread belief that turnout will be the lowest ever.
Of the approximately 630 polling stations, police officers on alert were prominent around the polling stations located in the center of Hong Kong Island.
In addition, Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, visited the polling place in the morning and called for a vote.
Voting will take place until 11:30 pm on the 19th of Japan time, and the results are expected to be known on the 20th.
Postponed for more than one year to prevent new corona infections China-led election system change
The term of office of a legislative council member of the Hong Kong parliament is four years.
Originally, the election was scheduled to be held in September last year when the term of office expired.
However, the Hong Kong government has postponed it for more than a year to prevent the transmission of the new coronavirus, during which time China took the lead in making major changes to the election system.
It is believed that the background of the change was to contain the political participation of the pro-democracy, which Xi Jinping's leadership, who had a sense of crisis about the situation in Hong Kong after a series of protests, was considered to be an opposition.
In the revised electoral system, the number has increased from 70 to 90, but citizens can directly vote from 35 seats to 20 seats.
Of the remaining 70 seats, 30 are assigned to each industry, such as "financial industry," "industry," and "restaurant industry," and a representative is selected for each.
The other 40 seats will be elected by 1,500 new members of the Election Commission.
This election commissioner originally has the authority to select the chief executive of the government, and is selected from the Hong Kong representative of the National People's Congress, China, as well as industries and organizations.
As a result of the elections held in September, there are no more pro-democracy members in the election commission, and most of them are pro-Chinese.
Also, when running for the legislative council election from this time, it is necessary to recommend this election commissioner, so it is difficult for the pro-democracy to run for the election itself.
Elections in the legislative council have so far been held in a system that favors pro-Chinese, with only a few seats being selected by citizens' votes, and pro-democracy has never won a majority of seats.
The basic law, which is the constitution of Hong Kong, stipulates that "the goal is to finally elect all members in universal suffrage," but this change in the system makes it easier to reflect China's intentions.