What does Hong Kong have in common with Senegal? They share the exact same ranking on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) latest Democracy Index, which was released this morning.
Hong Kong ranked 73rd on the index, with an overall score of 6.15 out of 10 — enough to retain its status as one of the world’s 55 “flawed democracies.”
The city’s current rank is down two places from 2018, and follows a year that saw a continued shrinking of space for political expression, which some observers have attributed to increasing interference from mainland authorities.
Among the past year’s lowlights were the explanation-free bouncing of Financial Times Asia editor Victor Mallet, the rejection of visas for incoming artists, and concerns over mainland police wielding authority on Hong Kong soil.
The EIU report attributed the decline in Hong Kong’s overall score to the decision by the government to ban the Hong Kong National Party (HKNP), and the city’s electoral commission barring candidates who support greater autonomy from China from running in elections.
Some of the high-profile figures who were banned from running in elections in 2018 include one of the student leaders from the 2014 Umbrella Movement, Agnes Chow, and Lau Siu-lai, who was one of six lawmakers ousted from her seat on the Legislative Council for improper oath-taking.
The city also ranked behind Coconuts HK’s sister regions of Indonesia (65), Singapore (66), Malaysia (52), but beat Thailand which had a rank of 106, and Myanmar which ranked 118.
The EIU report, which measures 60 different indicators across categories such as “pluralism,” “civil liberties” and “political culture,” comes barely a week after the Gallup International Association (GIA) released a report that ranked Hong Kong as the fifth-most pessimistic place on earth when it comes to 2019.
When asked “do you think that 2019 will be better, worse or the same as 2018?” only 20 percent of Hongkongers chose “better,” compared with last year’s 32 percent. About 45 percent of respondents felt 2019 would be worse than 2018, more than double the 22 percent who felt that way in last year’s survey.
