Hong Kong’s election authorities have received 161 nominations for candidates to run in December’s “patriots only” legislative race. Meanwhile, 35 current-term lawmakers will not seek re-election for the 90-seat chamber.
The nomination period for the December 7 Legislative Council (LegCo) polls ended on Thursday. The Election Affairs Commission (EAC) received 161 entries from election hopefuls – seven more than in the previous LegCo race in 2021.
The hopefuls are about evenly split for LegCo’s three constituencies. 50 are competing in the 40-seat election committee constituency, which is tasked with choosing the city’s leader. Sixty are vying for a seat in the 30-seat functional constituency. Meanwhile, 51 are throwing their hat in the ring for the 20-seat geographical constituency – the only democratically-elected portion of the chamber.
Functional constituencies consist of professional or special interest groups, such as commerce, industrial, accountancy or education.
Pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), fielded the most would-be candidates with 26 nominations, followed by the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) with 16, and the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) with 14.
The pro-Beijing New People’s Party has sent eight people to the race, while the pro-business Liberal Party put forward six hopefuls.
This year’s LegCo race is the second since Beijing introduced an electoral overhaul to ensure only “patriots” would govern in Hong Kong, following the pro-democracy protests and unrest in 2019. Most of the traditional pro-democracy opposition are behind bars, in self-exile or have quit politics, with their camp effectively barred from running.
The 161 election hopefuls will now be vetted by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, which will decide on the validity of their nominations within two weeks.
Among the 161 would-be-candidates, 54 are currently lawmakers while 107 are new contenders for a seat. Thirty-five legislators in the current LegCo bowed out of December’s race and will not seek re-election.
Hours before the nomination period ended at 5pm on Thursday, five lawmakers – Jesse Shang, Wendy Hong, Chan Yuet-ming, Kenneth Leung and Tan Yueheng – announced their decision on social media to sit out the December race.
The five – all first-time lawmakers – joined a long list of those who had earlier said they will bow out, including all 12 current lawmakers aged 70 or above. Authorities have hit out over “rumours” that younger candidates are being favoured.
Legislator Paul Tse, 66, was the only one who did not publicly announce his decision to not seek re-election.
In March 2021, Beijing passed legislation to ensure “patriots” govern Hong Kong. The move reduced democratic representation in the legislature, tightened control of elections and introduced a pro-Beijing vetting panel to select candidates. Authorities say the overhaul ensures the city’s stability and prosperity. But the changes also prompted international condemnation, as much of the traditional opposition remains behind bars, in self-exile or has quit politics.
During the 2021 legislative elections, voter turnout was 30.2 per cent – the lowest in the history of LegCo elections since the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Since then, the number of registered voters in Hong Kong has dropped for four straight years, with the latest figure standing at over 4.13 million this year. In comparison, at its peak in 2021, there were 4.47 million registered voters.
