Pro-democracy parties made smaller than expected gains in Hong Kong elections, which were seen as a referendum on the territory's Beijing-backed rulers, results released yesterday showed.
Democratic leaders expressed disappointment at their performance in Sunday's poll, despite securing a majority of the popular vote in an election marked by the highest-ever turnout in the former British colony.
The pro-democracy camp won a convincing 18 of the 30 legislative council seats which are chosen by the territory's 3.2 million voters, picking up 58.6 percent of ballots cast.
But pro-Beijing parties retained control of the council. The remaining 30 council seats are reserved for so-called functional constituencies representing mainly the business community and chosen by just 200,000 voters.
Calling the election "open and fair," Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
"This is a good election result. It was held in a fair, open and transparent manner and we are looking forward to working with the members of the new legislature," he said.
The election was fought against the backdrop of increasingly vocal calls for full democracy in the territory and efforts by Beijing to dampen such aspirations -- because of fears that a rush towards democracy would unsettle China.
The pro-democracy camp in total secured 25 seats on the 60-seat council, up from the 22 it previously held but down on projections of 28 or 29.
Pro-Beijing parties and independents who normally support them held the remaining seats, apparently undermining the democracy camp's case that voters would punish Beijing for ruling out fully democratic elections in 2007.
"I broke into tears" after hearing we had not won control, a defiant Yeung Sum (
However Yeung remained defiant, calling the result a "big step forward" and saying some good had come from the election.
"[The result] simply demonstrated that the majority of the people decided that they still want democracy."
China hailed the polls as the "most democratic" in Hong Kong's history. It cautioned lawmakers to "be loyal to their vows and seriously carry out their work ... and bear in mind the overall and long-term interest of China as well as Hong Kong."
Beijing had tried to sway voters with economic incentives and patriotic events including a visit by the country's Olympic team.
Critics also claim it orchestrated a smear campaign involving allegations of sex and property scandals involving democrats.
The election was seen as a referendum on the city's sentiment towards Beijing following 14 months of turmoil when the Chinese leadership was accused of interfering in the running of the city.
Results were delayed when electoral officials ordered a recount of ballots cast on Hong Kong Island, following allegations by pro-democracy candidates that rules had been breached.
Analysts blamed the poorer than expected result on the democrats' poor election strategy.
"The deck is stacked against them," said Paul Harris, politics and government associate professor at Lingnan University. But he said parties had not used the complicated electoral system to their favor and had fielded the wrong combinations of candidates.
Some 55.6 percent of the 3.2 million registered voters turned out, the highest number of ballots ever cast in any election in Hong Kong.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS