Democracy advocates gain in Hong Kong elections

Two years after Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protests, young democracy activists have moved from the streets to the seats of power as six of them won races in Sunday’s legislative elections. The results reveal Hong Kong locals’ growing frustration with mainland China’s heavy-handed control in the region.

About 2.2 million people, or 58 percent of registered voters, cast ballots for Legislative Council members, generating the highest turnout since Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China. Voters waited in long lines outside polling stations. One station stayed open until 2:30 a.m. due to the influx of people.

Before the Occupy protests, the legislators were split between pro-Beijing lawmakers and pan-Democrats, who pushed for greater democracy in Hong Kong but did not question China’s sovereignty over the region. The younger generation of democracy activists does not have ties to China and believes Hong Kong will never experience true democracy under China’s rule. These political parties either advocate self-determination of Hong Kong’s future through a referendum or complete independence from China.

Pro-democracy candidates won 30 of the 70 available seats, allowing them to keep the one-third bloc needed to veto bills, including the proposed plan to elect the chief executive next year through limited suffrage. The Occupy protest arose over that issue. While 100,000 protesters packed the streets, Beijing still refused to budge. Activists argue China backtracked on its promise to allow universal suffrage for Hong Kong’s top leader in 2017 and continues to impede democracy in Hong Kong. Anti-China sentiments rose even higher after the Chinese government kidnapped and detained Hong Kong booksellers who wrote books that negatively portrayed China’s leadership.

The former British colony has never experienced complete democracy. Hong Kong residents can vote for half of the seats in the Legislative Council, but a small number of electorates from various business and trade groups decides the other half. Those electorates are easily swayed by mainland China. Also, the legislature can vote on bills put forth by the government, but can’t propose its own.

This election, the government blocked six independence supporters from running for office, stating their beliefs contradicted Hong Kong’s Basic Law. Of the 10 radicals who ran, half of them won their districts, including 23-year-old Nathan Law, a student leader of the Occupy Central movement. Law, who co-founded the new political party Demosisto with Occupy icon Joshua Wong, will become Hong Kong’s youngest legislator. Wong, who is 19, could not run because of age limitations.

In another upset, Eddie Chu, a 38-year-old independent candidate, won the typically pro-Beijing area of New Territories West due to his activism in blocking a government plan to demolish Choi Yuen Village to build a high-speed rail from central Hong Kong to the mainland.

Local media reported instances of voting irregularities: Several voters found their names crossed out when they arrived at the polling station and were unable to cast their votes. Social Workers’ General Union claimed staff at an elderly home influenced votes by busing its residents to polling stations and telling them whom to vote for.

Still, the election was a victory for the new democracy movement. “It shows how Hong Kong people want to change,” Law told reporters. “People are voting for a new way and new future of our democratic movement.”