Radical activist candidates from Youngspiration group, from left, Yau Wai-ching, Kenny Wong and Henry Wong shout slogans as they celebrate after Yau won the legislative council election in Hong Kong, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016.
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“Mr Law, whose Demosisto party campaigns for the right to self-determination, had the second highest number of votes in the multi-seat Hong Kong Island constituency”.
It is nearly impossible for them to take a majority, as 30 seats are appointed by special interest groups that tend to be pro-Beijing.
The LegCo has 70 constituency seats but only 35 of these are elected directly by Hong Kong’s population.
The Hong Kong edition of the state-owned China Daily warned Tuesday that wins by activists could mean “separatist ideas” emerge in LegCo.
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.
The elections also saw a record-breaking turnout of about 58 percent of Hong Kong’s 3.8 million registered voters.
Pro-Beijing supporters have been accused of offering financial incentives to potential supporters and bringing in busloads of former Hong Kong residents living in China to vote in the election.
Amid anger of Beijing’s tightening grip, the protesters called on Leung Chun-ying to step down, demanding the right to elect a leader directly.
Record turnout in Sunday’s vote helped sweep the newcomers into office, most notably Nathan Law, a 23-year-old former student leader of massive pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2014.
Numerous winners in the recent election come from the territory’s younger population, as numerous veteran democrats have failed to retain their seats in the LegCo.
Lau Siu-lai, 40, is a former Occupy protester and university lecturer who is seen as a more moderate democrat and was the prime vote victor for the democracy camp in her constituency.
In the election, the pro-democracy opposition also kept its crucial one-third veto bloc in the 70-seat Legislative Council over major laws and public funding that has helped check China’s influence.
Before nomination for the election, Hong Kong’s Electoral Affairs Commission demanded that all the candidates must endorse a statement promising to support the Hong Kong Basic Law and be loyal to the Hong Kong SAR.
One of the banned candidates, Edward Leung, said in July that he might file an election petition with the court to overturn the results.
“I think that todays, the result of the election is the indicator to show whether Hong Kong people accept independence as our future or not”.
“It’s a new era”, said Lee Cheuk-yan, a democrat who lost his seat after almost two decades in public office.
A surprise victor in the traditionally conservative and pro-Beijing New Territories West was party unaffiliated social activist Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, who won more than 70,000 votes. Before they start their new job, China wants to make sure that they know the ground rules first.
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A spate of incidents, including the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers who later resurfaced in mainland Chinese detention, has aroused fears that Beijing is reneging on its promise of wide autonomy for Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” framework.
