Violence seen as factor in reversal for pro-establishment camp

HONG KONG - Pro-establishment candidates took a drubbing in Sunday's district council election, the first electoral exercise to be held amid social unrest stemming from the Extradition Bill incident that erupted mid-June.

Counting of votes closed at 12:40 pm Monday after the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) declared after midnight that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) saw a record voter turnout of 71.2 percent in Sunday's district council election.

But despite the highest turnout rate since Hong Kong's return to its motherland in 1997, many pro-establishment candidates, despite having rich experience of serving the community, were defeated by political greenhorns.

In a press statement issued just before 6 am, the EAC said given the high voter turnout, it will not be able to complete counting by 6 am as customary. Polling stations were converted into counting stations after the close of election at 10:30 pm Sunday.

Early results indicated a blow for the city's largest political party - the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB). In an early morning statement, it confirmed 155 of the 182 members it sent to the district council election had lost. In a press conference held later in the day, the party confirmed only 21 of 181 candidates fielded by it had managed to get elected. The party said it will have a meeting soon to analyse the defeat.

DAB Chairperson Starry Lee Wai-king managed to secure another term after being returned from To Kwa Wan North constituency in Kowloon City. She defeated disqualified opposition lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung with a narrow margin.

But many other influential pro-establishment figures, some of them incumbent lawmakers, found their electoral fortunes stunningly reversed.

DAB Vice-Chairman and legislator Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan lost by 795 votes to a student candidate in Sai Wan constituency, one of the strongholds of the pro-establishment camp.

Another DAB vice-chairman, Lawmaker Holden Chow Ho-ding, lost his seat in Tung Chung South constituency. His nearest rival polled 1,430 additional votes.

DAB lawmaker Edward Lau Kwok-fan was similarly defeated in Yan Shing constituency in North district.

Lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, who was stabbed two weeks ago while canvassing votes, lost by 1,200 votes to his nearest rival in Lok Tsui constituency in Tuen Mun.

In another press conference, another prominent member of the pro-establishment camp, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Union, said by 12:30 pm, only four of its 62 candidates had won.

A number of disappointed DAB candidates rued that this election had not really been a referendum on their community service. Many defeated candidates said politics and violence that has roiled the city for months had played a bigger part in deciding their fortunes at the hustings than their performance as district councillors.

As of 6 am, results indicated that the pro-establishment camp had retreated in at least five district councils: Wong Tai Sin, Tsuen Wan, Wan Chai, Central and Western, and Southern. By Monday noon, the opposition camp had won 17 out of 18 district councils. It won 344 seats in all. The opposition only secured around 100 seats at the previous poll four years ago.

The 452 elected district council members, together with 27 ex-officio members in the New Territories, will compose the sixth-term district councils, the term of which will start on Jan 1, 2020 and last till Dec 31, 2023.

District councils are organizations that advise the HKSAR government on matters involving the well-being of residents and participate in the management of district affairs.