With another six hours of voting still left to go, turnout for Hong Kong’s district council elections today has already surpassed the total turnout for the last time local elections were held in 2015 — a testament to the symbolic importance of the poll after months of unrest.
Many were already viewing this year’s local elections as a referendum on the government’s simultaneously aloof yet heavy-handed response to months of pro-democracy protests, which have been escalating in ferocity for weeks.
Turnout in the 2015 local poll — which tends not to inspire a great deal of passion — was 47.01 percent. As of 3:30pm today, the government announced just moments ago, turnout had already hit 47.26, with long lines still snaking out of polling stations across town.
Meanwhile, with record levels of voter registration this year, the sheer number of votes cast has also already dwarfed 2015: more than 1.95 million votes had been cast by 3:30pm, compared to some 1.45 million in 2015.
The polls aren’t scheduled to close until 10:30pm.
Given widespread anti-government sentiment, fueled by fears of encroachment by Beijing, analysts expect pro-democracy candidates to see gains in the district councils, but still fall short of a majority of slots.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam, meanwhile, dodged questions as to whether today’s poll was a referendum on her leadership, saying when asked that it was merely, “for registered voters to select their preferred candidates to represent their district’s interests in the 18 District Councils.”
“I’m sure each registered voter will take into account all factors in deciding their choices,” she added, according to RTHK.
For all the symbolic weight attached to today’s vote, the candidates elected will have limited say in the broader political decisions determining the city’s ultimate fate, though major gains by pro-dems could see their voices somewhat better represented in the group of electors that pick the city’s leader.
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