Hong Kong legislative council election reveals city’s ‘new politics’
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An analyst said that Hong Kong’s first election as a legislative body since Beijing restructured its electoral system marks the start of “new politics” within the city.
“We have to wait to see the final results before we know that for certain, but it does look like the pro-establishment candidates — who are focusing more on livelihood issues, social issues — are going to dominate the legislature,” Tim Summers, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
These issues include housing, poverty, and the environment. Summers said that there will still be a lot of debate and contestation about the many livelihood problems that Hong Kong faces.
When the Legislative Council elections are held in Hong Kong on December 19, 2021, people go to the polling stations and cast their votes.
Cheng Yongnuo | China News Service | Getty Images
These sentiments were echoed by Lau Siu Kai, vice president of the Beijing-based think-tank China Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies. According to him, the legislature’s new focus will be on practical matters such as the city’s growing real estate prices and income inequality.
Political outlook
Summers stated that he doesn’t expect any progress in political reform after the election, but it’s part of Beijing’s plan.
“They saw a much greater radicalization of Hong Kong politics over the last five or six years … They wanted to cut that off … after the massive social movements, often violent movements of 2019,” Summers said.
Turnout among voters falls
Voter turnout fell to a record low of 30.2% in Sunday’s polls, according to Hong Kong’s Electoral Affairs CommissionThe figure is 58% higher than the average of about 58% for 2016. The electoral reform this year meant that there were fewer elected officials and more Beijing-approved officials.
The new electoral system has seen the number of legislative seats rise from 70 to 90. The number of elected representatives is now smaller. Half of the Council members were previously directly elected by Hong Kongers. The new rules apply. about a fifth of them will be.
The election was deemed a “patriots-only” vote, and leaders from Beijing and Hong Kong declared openly that the new system will ensure this. “patriots” hold office in Hong Kong. They rejected criticism from outsiders of electoral changes so far, describing the comments as fruitless interference in domestic affairs.
Lau maintained that Hong Kong was still “a very attractive location for foreign investors”.
This is especially true at a moment when many Chinese companies that trade in America are being pressured by Beijing to list closer to home in Hong Kong and delist from American markets, Lau said on CNBC’s Street Signs Asia.
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi said earlier this month that it will start delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and make plans to list in Hong Kong instead.
— CNBC’s Vivian Kam contributed to this report.
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