I believe that in this election result, it also reflects it.
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For those unaware, the Legislative Council – or the LegCo – elections were the biggest polls held after the 2014’s mass “Occupy” protests calling for greater autonomy and less interference from the powers that be in Beijing. A record 2.2 million people voted in the election. The turnout highlights the increasing eagerness of Hongkongers to voice their stance especially on China-related political matters.
Some results were still trickling in on Monday afternoon, but local press are forecasting that the proportion of pro-Beijing seats to pan-democrat seats would remain roughly the same in the next legislative session.
And it couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time, taking place just as an election was occurring in the former British colony that was returned to China in 1997.
The Beijing government yesterday said it opposed efforts by certain candidates and organisations in the Hong Kong polls to promote independence, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing remarks from a representative of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. At least one polling station had to stay open until nearly 2.30 am on Monday to accommodate the long line of voters who had arrived before the 10.30 pm closing time.
One victor was 23-year-old Nathan Law, who helped lead the 2014 protests – part of the so-called Umbrella Movement – with teenage activist Joshua Wong.
Another victorious pro-democracy candidate, Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, suggested that the city’s political terrain could alter even further, after he recorded an overwhelming victory in his constituency. A number of sit- in style protests shut down the city for more than two months in one of the strongest demonstrations against Beijing in decades.
Most established pro-democracy politicians do not support the notion of independence and may lose seats to voters who now favour more radical new groups.
Law’s party, Demosisto, founded earlier this year with teen protest leader Joshua Wong, advocates a referendum on “self-determination” on the future status of Hong Kong, which is in the middle of a 50-year transition period to Chinese rule.
In July, Thousands took part in “black mask” pro-democracy protests and in protest of Chinese booksellers they say have been abducted.
Leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan Law has said he will not use his newly-won seat on the Legislative Council (LegCo) to push for independence from China. “But even so Beijing and Hong Kong will be anxious about the results that how polarised Hong Kong society has become”, the Al Jazeera correspondent said.
Counting is still under way in one geographical constituency and in several of the many functional constituencies, but so far the alliance of pro-democratic candidates has managed to hold on to the 18 seats they need to retain veto power in the council.
“Our election is a democratic election”, Leung told reporters.
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Law will now take up a seat in the Legislative Council (LegCo), Hong Kong’s lawmaking body. That now seems unlikely, because the candidate he supported, Sixtus Leung of the Youngspiration party, won a seat.
