Chief sec. urges Hong Kong civil servants to cast ballot in Dec ‘patriots only’ poll, rules out compulsory voting in future
Hong Kong Free Press
Chief Secretary Eric Chan has urged Hongkongers – especially civil servants – to vote in next month’s “patriots only” District Council election, but he ruled out the prospect of a compulsory voting system in future.
Authorities have the responsibility to inform the public of “the meaning of voting” and are intensively promoting the December 10 election, the city’s number two official told Ming Pao on Thursday.
But when asked by reporters whether authorities had considered introducing compulsory voting for all Hongkongers in future polls, Chan said no.
“[Even if] you compel people to vote, you can’t control who they’re voting for,” Chan said.
On Tuesday the chief secretary and the civil service chief Ingrid Yeung met eight groups of civil servants, urging them to lead by example and fulfil their duty as citizens by voting and encouraging their family and friends to do likewise.
Chan said during the meeting that civil servants have a responsibility to support the policies of the government, local media outlet am730 reported.
The city’s leader John Lee the same day said civil servants should lead by example and cast their votes to fulfill their duty as citizens. The city has 173,400 civil servants.
Plans to overhaul the District Council elections were unveiled in May 2023 to ensure only “patriots” were elected, following a pro-democracy landslide at the last polls in 2019.
The number of seats chosen democratically by the public were slashed from 452 to 88 – reducing the power of public votes to a fifth. The rest are to be chosen by the city’s leader, government-appointed committees and officials.
Constituency boundaries were redrawn, the opposition were shut out, and each local council is to be chaired by a government official, similar to colonial-era arrangements. All candidates undergo national security vetting to ensure patriotism.
In the last District Council election, around 2.94 million Hongkongers cast their ballots – 71.2 per cent of the electorate – a record high turnout not just for District Council elections, but any election in the history of Hong Kong.
However, many elected democratic district councillors resigned ahead of the introduction of new mandatory oaths of allegiance while many others failed to be qualified after taking the oaths.
Government officials have been frequently asked about voter turnout for the coming elections, the first since the electoral overhaul. Alice Mak, the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, told the Legislative Council on November 17 that an election should not be assessed simply by the turnout rate, which she said was affected by multiple factors, including the weather and the social atmosphere.
Mak told Sing Tao Daily on November 20 that authorities were not “chasing numbers, ” adding that society is “stable” currently and therefore people may not bother to vote or register to do so.
“When Hong Kong saw the highest voter turnout [in 2019], it coincided with the most divided and darkest times in the city. Therefore, merely looking at the voter turnout is not enough to reflect the quality of the district council,” Erick Tsang, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs said at the Legislative Council in October.
‘Consultative’, no politicalised
In the interview with Ming Pao, Chan said the decision to revamp district governance was prompted by the “black-clad violence”, a term often used by the pro-Beijing camp to refer to the 2019 protests and unrest.
Chan said the election in 2019 was “very politicalised” and some candidates won easily by chanting anti-China slogans and disrupting Hong Kong.
The chief secretary said the government believed shortcomings in district governance had played an important role in creating the conditions for the violence. Authorities therefore “upgraded” district governance by setting up a committee to coordinate different government offices to serve the community.
Chan said the role of District Councils would be “consultative” and they would assist the government in explaining policies to the public. “Previously District Councils were doing things linked to politics. That should not have happened.”
Gov’t-appointed district councillors
Under the new system 179 district councillors will be directly appointed by the Chief Executive John Lee. The government has not revealed the criteria and procedure for such appointments.
Chan told Thursday’s Ming Pao the government was currently “gathering” a list of prospective directly appointed district councillors. He said many would be people with professional backgrounds such as doctors and lawyers.
He added that formerly the composition of district councillors was too simplistic and excluded those who had wanted to serve the community but did not want to run for election.
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