The EconomistNovember 30th 2019 571A
fter nearlysix months of unrest in
Hong Kong, involving increasingly
violent protests, vandalism and transport
chaos, the government had reason to hope
that public opinion might have turned
against the demonstrators. No such luck.
Instead, voters handed a stunning victory
to pro-democracy candidates in district
elections on November 24th. The message
was plain: for all the recent mayhem, Hong
Kongers strongly dislike their government
and its backers in Beijing. The result was a
strong endorsement of the protesters’ cam-
paign for political freedoms.
Ostensibly the election was merely
about picking 450-odd representatives to
district councils—bodies that recommend
policies relating to humdrum local pro-
blems. This time, however, the turnout was
huge—a record, indeed, for any kind of
election in Hong Kong that involves a pub-
lic vote. Nearly 3m voters—more than 71%
of those registered—took part, up from
47% four years ago (some are pictured
queuing). After casting her own ballot,
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam,
dismissed the idea that this was a vote of
confidence in her leadership. Perhaps she
had sensed the approaching electoral ava-
lanche. Pro-democracy politicians won al-
most 90% of the seats and took control of 17
of the 18 councils. Previously they had
dominated none of them.
Mrs Lam has promised to “seriously re-
flect” on the results. Many people will ex-
pect her to do more than that—at a mini-
mum, by reshuffling her cabinet and
advisory boards to include voices from out-
side the establishment, and by launching
independent judge-led inquiries into the
causes of the protests and police handling
of them. Since the elections, however, MrsLam has given no hint that she will agree.
That will surprise few of the protesters.
Mrs Lam—probably at the urging of offi-
cials in Beijing—has shown little inclina-
tion to make further concessions after her
decision early on to abandon the draft ex-
tradition bill that triggered the unrest (it
would have allowed suspects to be tried by
courts in mainland China). But democrats
will take heart nonetheless. They hope the
outcome of the elections will help their
side gain strength in other, more impor-
tant, bodies.
One of these is the Legislative Council
(Legco), to which elections will be held
next September. Only half of Legco’s 70
members are directly elected, using a sys-
tem of proportional representation that al-
lows pro-establishment candidates to gain
seats despite not having pluralities, let
alone majorities. Other seats are mostly
filled by so-called “functional constituen-
cies”, in which the electorate is limited to
people working in certain jobs. Pro-gov-
ernment candidates do well in these. But
six of the seats are reserved for district
councillors. The pro-democracy camp can
now expect to capture them as well as more
of the others. They may even be able to gain
a majority of Legco’s seats.
Opposition politicians also hope to in-
crease their hitherto minuscule influence
over the selection of chief executives. This
is done by an “election committee” com-Elections in Hong Kong
No time for the party line
HONG KONG
A ballot-box victory for pro-democracy politicians compounds officials’ woes
China
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