With a drastically reduced number of directly elected seats, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has allegedly improved Hong Kong’s electoral system in preparation for the onset of the District Council elections to be held at the end of this year. However, the latest provisional records of Hong Kong’s geographical constituency show overall voter numbers falling for the second consecutive year, and a 10.3 percent drop in numbers over the last three years for those aged between 18 and 30.
The upcoming elections represent the final piece in the puzzle of amendments initiated by the CCP in 2021 for its so-called “improving the electoral system.” However, by systematically scrutinizing the political backgrounds of candidates, it has only weakened the democratic characteristics of direct elections.
The District Council will resume the appointment system, and the number of directly elected seats will be drastically reduced by eighty percent, from 452 to 88. The remaining seats will be divided equally between government-appointed seats and those elected through indirect elections from the government-appointed District Management Committee. Under the new scheme, directly elected seats are proportionately lower than in the first district council election in 1982, while appointed seats have reached a new high.
Massive Voter Surge Sparked by Anti-Extradition Bill Movement
In comparison, the number of voters rose in 2018 from approximately 3.8 million to exceeded 4.13 million in 2019, when the anti-extradition law movement was in full swing (see table above). With voter registration ending on July 2, the resistance camp called on citizens to register as voters, in order to participate in November’s district council elections. In the end, the voter turnout was 71.23 percent, or 2.94 million voters. It was an all-time high for Hong Kong and a massive victory for the pro-democracy party. It had won 388 seats in the 18 districts with 452 directly elected seats.With the number of voters reaching a new high of more than 4.46 million in the leadup to the seventh Legislative Council election in 2020, the CCP and the Hong Kong government used the pandemic as an excuse to postpone the election. The intended Legislative Council election was reset for 2021. Voter numbers reached an all-time high, nearing 4.473 million people. However, before the March deadline for voter registration, the CCP pushed ahead with its proposal to overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system by amending Annex I and II of the Basic Law.
This resulted in a further tightening of the system, which included the amending of the Chief Executive election method, the Legislative Council election method, and voting procedures. Candidate vetting was also introduced to only allow “patriots” to run for office. After introducing the “improved” electoral system in 2022, voter numbers decreased by more than 60,000, and by more than 82,000 in 2023.
Direct Response to Government Suppression of Elections
Following the government postponement of the 2020 Legislative Council election (see table above), the number for young voters aged between 18 and 30 has continued to decline for a third successive year. There were only 558,000 voters, 64,000 fewer in just one year, a drop of 10.3 percent.If compared to the peak during the anti-extradition bill movement in 2020, it’s a drop of more than 185,000, or a quarter of young voters. Among them, voter numbers for those aged between 18 and 20 dropped the most. Compared to 2022, their numbers fell by more than 50 percent to 26,000, and by almost 80 percent over the past three years.
During the Chinese New Year of 2016, after clashes had developed between street hawkers and municipal staff, the incident escalated into a conflict between police and citizens on the streets of Mong Kok. In that same year, a Legislative Council candidates disqualification controversy took place. After the political backgrounds of five candidates were investigated by the election officer, their nominations were deemed invalid.
Those investigated were Edward Leung of Hong Kong Indigenous, Andy Chan of Hong Kong National Party, James Chan Kwok-keung, district councilor of an independent party, Nakade Hitsujiko of Nationalist Hong Kong, and Alice Lai Yee-man of the Conservative Party. This was the first time in Hong Kong’s history that a candidate had been disqualified because of their political background.
