Hong Kong establishment crushed at polls in stark message to Beijing
Credit to Author: THE MANILA TIMES| Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 09:08:19 +0000
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s deeply unpopular leader vowed on Monday to “listen humbly” to voters after the pro-democracy camp scored a crushing victory in community-level elections that revealed broad public support for a protest movement that has sparked months of violence.
In a rout that stunned the semi-autonomous territory, candidates seeking to loosen control by China seized an overwhelming majority of the 452 seats in the city’s 18 district councils, bodies that have historically been firmly in the grip of a Beijing-aligned establishment.
The result was a humiliating rebuke to Beijing and Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who has dismissed calls for political reform and had repeatedly suggested that a silent majority supported her administration and opposed the protest movement.
“The government will certainly listen humbly to citizens’ opinions and reflect on them seriously,” Lam said in a statement issued by the government.
She gave no specifics on her next move, but opponents quickly called on her to accede to a five-point list of demands, including direct elections for the city’s legislature and leadership and a probe into alleged police brutality against demonstrators.
“The voters used the most peaceful way to tell the government that we won’t accept Hong Kong becoming a police state, and an authoritarian regime,” said Wu Chi-wai, the chairman of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong’s largest anti-establishment party.
“The government must squarely face… public opinion.”
The Labor Party, another leading component of the pro-democracy bloc, attributed the election result to “the sweat, blood and tears” of protesters.
Chatter on a popular web forum used previously to urge people to turn out for protests called for a march on Sunday to press the government to respond to the movement’s demands.
‘Revolution’
Millions took to the streets earlier this year after Lam’s government introduced a bill to allow extraditions to China’s opaque judicial system.
It was eventually withdrawn, but the resulting public anger unleashed broader demands and led to violent clashes between police and protesters.
District councils handle mundane community-level issues like garbage collection and the polls typically generate little excitement. But Sunday’s contest took on new political significance because of the protests.
The outcome was “nothing short of a revolution,” Hong Kong political analyst Willy Lam said.
“It’s a sound repudiation of the (Hong Kong) administration and Beijing’s policy toward Hong Kong.”
He said the result could hasten Beijing’s expected removal of Lam as leader, but may also extend the city’s crisis.
“Protesters will see this astounding victory as a mandate given by the people, so they will fight harder. But at the same time, there won’t be any concessions from Beijing, so the frustration will mount,” he told Agence France-Presse.
Pro-democracy candidates grabbed 388 seats — a stunning net gain of 263 — according to local media, with the establishment holding on to only 59. Five went to independents.
China ‘resolutely’ backs Lam
Meanwhile, China said on Monday it supports Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam after the pro-democracy camp scored a crushing victory in community-level elections.
“China’s central government resolutely supports chief executive Carrie Lam’s leadership of the Special Administrative Region government,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang at a regular press briefing.
Although the elections handle local concerns such as bus routes and garbage collection, the result has been seen as voters giving the territory’s China-controlled administration a bloody nose after months of increasingly violent clashes between protesters and police.
Geng said the government also supported the police and judiciary in Hong Kong in “punishing relevant violent and illegal behaviors.”
“The Chinese government’s resolve to protect national sovereignty, security and development interest has not faltered. Its resolve to carry out one country, two systems has not faltered,” he said. AFP