Five people were yesterday arrested as polls opened in Hong Kong’s first “patriots only” district council election, with officials dismissing concerns of potentially low turnout in a race that has shut out all opposition candidates after a national security crackdown.
The previous election was held at the peak of the territory’s huge, sometimes violent, democracy protests in 2019, and recorded a historic-high 71 percent turnout — delivering a landslide victory for the pro-democracy camp. As part of the widespread clampdown on political opposition — aided by national security legislation imposed by Beijing in 2020 — Hong Kong authorities overhauled the councils’ composition earlier this year.
Authorities have attempted to drum up enthusiasm for the election, covering the city with posters urging Hong Kongers to participate, but yesterday morning, polling booths appeared to have few voters in the wealthy Mid-Levels area.
Photo: AFP
“It must be the patriots ruling Hong Kong — this is our principle,” said a civil engineer surnamed Lee, a lone early voter, adding that “the election wouldn’t be affected just because some can’t be part of it.”
Under new rules announced in May, seats for direct election were slashed from 462 to 88, with the other 382 seats controlled by Hong Kong’s leader, government loyalists and rural landlords.
Candidates were required to seek nominations from committees appointed by the government, which effectively shut out all pro-democracy parties. More than 70 percent of the candidates nominated to run for directly elected seats were members of those committees.
“From now on, the district councils would no longer be what they were in the past — which was a platform to destruct and reject the government’s administration, to promote Hong Kong independence and to endanger national security,” Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) said after he cast his ballot yesterday.
Five people were arrested yesterday, including three activists and a couple, one of whom worked for the government.
The League of Social Democrats — one of the territory’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 police in the city’s Central District.
Police said the trio were “attempting to incite others to disrupt district council elections.”
Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption said it had arrested a couple for allegedly “leaving a comment” on a social media post that incited people to cast invalid ballots.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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