Hong Kong set for a crucial district council poll - RTHK
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Hong Kong set for a crucial district council poll

2019-11-23 HKT 21:08
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  • Hong Kong set for a crucial district council poll
Hong Kong is set for what is the most keenly-watched district council elections, seen by many as a referendum on the ongoing political agitation that has gripped the city for the last six months.

Attacks against a few candidates in the run-up has seen the government ordering fully-armed riot police to be stationed at polling booths across all the 18 districts.

Balloting to choose the 452 councillors across the city will start at 7.30am. More than 400,000 new voters will be eligible this time around.

Another major shift this time is that contests are happening in all seats – four years ago, 68 seats went uncontested.

The pan-democrats are hoping to deliver an unequivocal message to the Carrie Lam administration and Beijing by delivering heavy blows to the parties aligned with the authorities.

But the opposition parties have also come under fire over their support for the ongoing agitation which has seen increased violence involving Molotov cocktails and vandalisation of several MTR stations that continue to affect people's commute.

Given this backdrop, the usually ignored district council polls have assumed an importance it never had before.

A number of people RTHK spoke to in Lok Fu said they are going to cast their ballots on Sunday’s elections because they felt it is their civil duty.

A woman in her 50s, surnamed Law said: “I am not happy with the current political climate ... We must come out this year to reflect our views on whether we are happy with the performance of the current district councillors.”

While she said she was okay with riot police stationing at polling station, her husband thought otherwise.

“I would prefer they stay outside so that they won’t affect the voters,” he said. “In the past, there’s only an ordinary officer. There’s no need to deploy riot police. I will feel disgusted if I see their presence.”

Another voter nearby, surnamed Ip, however, said she’s not too bothered with the arrangement because she said she’s just going to vote. She also said she’s not too worried if there will be violent incidents tomorrow.

On the Hong Kong island, a voter in her 40s surnamed Lam said she sees this election as a “referendum”, and says her decision will be based more on the candidates' political stance rather than community-level proposals.

Lam, who belongs to the Tai Koo district, said she doesn’t feel the police presence will sway voter turnout, but she said the atmosphere inside the polling stations could be unpleasant for some.

"There is tension between people and police," she said. "You can see in Central [district] when they have walking out for lunchtime protest, there is always some fight between them."

But Fung, a voter in Nam Fung near Tai Koo Shing, said a candidate's ability in handling local issues remained important to him. He said he will look at who had come out to stop the disturbances that anti-government protesters created in Taikoo area.

"If you are doing anything good for the local people, of course I am going to vote for you," he said.

Chan, a 28-year-old voter from the Central and Western District, said he hopes the polls can bring changes to next year’s Legislative Council elections. He also expects the District Council poll results to bring Hongkongers some breathing space from the intense protests that have been going on.