Voting has begun in Hong Kong’s first legislative election

Hong Kong voters mostly shunned a citywide poll to select Beijing-approved candidates for the city’s legislature. “These choices aren’t actually choices, so it’s meaningless to vote,” said a 34-year-old who had no intention of voting.

Hong Kong’s leader said that free public transport on Sunday’s election day was intended to remind citizens of the importance of voting, but Hongkongers – whether they had voted or not – have told HKFP that the scheme did not influence their decision to cast a ballot.

Only 30.2% of registered voters in Hong Kong cast their ballots in Sunday’s Legislative Council (LegCo) election, the lowest since Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997. The LegCo election was the first under a revamped “patriots-only” system introduced by Beijing earlier in 2021 following pro-democracy protests since the last election in 2016.

What people are saying?

King Danny Authoritarians can’t care enough if people vote for their sham candidates or not, they just need the mask of democracy on it to show off validation for the process.

M.K. Holmes Absolutely. The low turnout again tells that Beijing is the minority. They win this time just because they twisted every rule of the game. No democracy and no justice in Hong Kong under Beijing’s totalitarian rule.