The Hong Kong pro-democracy movement achieved a stunning victory in Sunday’s district-council elections. With turnout exceeding 70 percent, close to 90 percent of the seats went to pro-democracy candidates, who took 17 of the 18 district councils. As the first electoral barometer of public sentiment since protests began in June, the results are a turning point in the conflict that has wracked Hong Kong for the last six months.
Though the district councils’ authority is mostly local, they appoint 117 of the 1,200 members of Hong Kong’s Election Committee. Coupled with the roughly 400 opposition members already sitting on the election committee, the additional seats will give the pro-democracy camp much greater sway when the next chief executive of Hong Kong is selected in 2022. The current chief executive, Carrie Lam, has denounced this year’s protests and remained staunchly on the side of Beijing.
“The result is astonishing. It is a clear sign that a public majority supports the democratic movement and the anti-extradition protests,” says Eric Lai, the vice convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that has played a key role in organizing the protests. One of the group’s leaders, Jimmy Sham — who has twice been brutally beaten during the demonstrations — won the Lek Yuen constituency, unseating a pro-Beijing incumbent.
With a clear public majority calling for reforms, Lam will face increased pressure to accede to protesters’ demands. “If Carrie Lam does not reform in accordance with this referendum, but continues to escalate tensions by limiting freedoms in Hong Kong, people will be outraged and will escalate protests, and radical protesters will see that they are needed to continue the momentum,” Lai says.
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See Also:
(1) Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Movement Crushes Beijing At The Ballot Box
(2) Beijing tried to tell Hong Kongers how to vote. They wisely had other ideas
(3) Will Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s bubble of delusion ever burst?
