He also mentioned that Beijing seems “worried about” the election results and that Hong Kong has “a new voice of resistance”. Nathan Law, 23 – who heads the new political party Demosistō alongside the 19-year-old pro-democracy figurehead Joshua Wong – is now the youngest lawmaker in Hong Kong’s history.
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“The democracy in the election is reflected by the free choice of voters, they do not need to be told who to vote”, he said, when asked his thoughts on how last-minute decisions by seven mostly pro-democracy candidates to suspend their campaigns in a bid to consolidate votes for those with more support would affect results.
Full results were not due till later in the day.
Helped by a record voter turnout, some of the young protesters who took part in Hong Kong’s enormous 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations will now wield a small measure of real political power for the first time.
Hong Kong is facing further political turmoil at a time when its mainland-dependent economy is going through the “worst time for 20 years”, according to the city’s finance chief.
More than 2.2 million eligible voters casted their ballots at hundreds of polling stations with a turnout rate of 58 per cent. The other 30 of the seats can only be elected by members of certain trades and professions, while the remaining five are elected by voting populations across the former British colony.
“People want change, change meaning that they want new faces. but the price is a further fragmentation [of the democracy camp]”.
Beijing underscored its “resolute opposition” to any form of “Hong Kong independence” activities, either within or outside of the special administrative region’s Legislative Council, an official statement said on Monday. Some backed the previously unthinkable idea of independence for Hong Kong, which has added to divisions within the broader pro-democracy movement and overshadowed the election. That now seems unlikely, because the candidate he supported, Sixtus Leung of the Youngspiration party, won a seat.
The blocked candidates have launched a judicial review against the decision, which could prompt by-elections if it is successful.
Because of the success of pro-independence candidates, some fear China will only crack down even harder.
It saw the emergence of young campaigners demanding outright independence for Hong Kong – a subject which was taboo until recently – offering the chance for the city to determine its own future.
“I’m not advocating independence, I’m advocating Hong Kong people should enjoy [their] rights of self-determination”, he told the BBC after Chinese state media published the warning.
The geographical constituencies include Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West, Kowloon East, New Territories West and New Territories East, where 213 candidates contested 35 seats.
Some were anxious that the pan-democratic camp – which held 27 seats to the pro-Beijing camp’s 43 – would lose seats in the election, granting the pro-Beijing camp the two-thirds majority necessary to pass its agenda through the legislature.
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There were almost 3.78 million Hong Kong residents registered as eligible voters for the election of the sixth term LegCo, with an increase of about 310,000 voters from the last LegCo election in 2012.
