Nathan Law, a student leader of Hong Kong’s mass “Umbrella Revolution” democracy rallies two years ago, is now at the forefront of a new guard of young lawmakers pushing for autonomy from China.
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Sixtus “Baggio” Leung, a 30-year-old from the same party who backs Hong Kong’s independence from mainland China, also appeared poised to be elected on Monday.
“This shows that Hong Kong people want changes, it shows that Hong Kong people want to resist”, said Leung.
“Well in these four years there has been a drastic change in the political spectrum of Hong Kong”.
Fung Wah (L), chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) of Hong Hong, together with other staff members open a ballot box for counting after voting stations closed for the Legislative Council election in Hong Kong, south China.
The poll for the Legislative Council is the first major election since hundreds of thousands took to the streets for the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement that shut down parts of the city – a special administrative region of China.
His constituency will elect six seats and he was now in second place, with 90 per cent of votes counted, the results showed.
“People want change, change meaning they want new faces. but the price is a further fragmentation (of the democracy camp)”.
The victory by emerging politicians including 23-year-old Nathan Law, who cut his teeth during the Occupy protests of 2014, sets the stage for a further escalation of tensions with Beijing, which vehemently rejects separatism. But of those 70 seats, only 40 are directly elected by citizens of Hong Kong.
Radical activists are challenging their pro-Beijing and mainstream pro-democracy rivals for seats.
The election is the first in the territory since the 2014 unrest, when central areas of Hong Kong were paralysed for weeks by mostly young protesters.
The vote for Legislative Council is seen as Hong Kong’s most important election since the handover from Britain in 1997, and will test the unity of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp.
After capturing a seat with more than 50,000 votes, he will become the council’s youngest-ever legislator.
Another 30 seats are taken by members representing business and trade groups such as accounting, finance, medicine and fisheries, most of which support Beijing because their members have close ties to China’s communist elite on the mainland.
The vote does not elect Hong Kong’s chief executive, the head of government, but many analysts believe the outcome could have an impact on whether China supports current leader CY Leung for a second term in office.
Of the 35 “geographical constituency” seats chosen by popular vote, 16 went to establishment candidates and 19 to a mixture of moderate democrats, localists, radicals of other stripes and independent candidates with pro-democracy leanings.
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The election comes at a time Hong Kong residents fear they are gradually losing their long-cherished freedom to speak critically and openly about the governments in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Hong Kong and Beijing officials have consistently slammed independence as unconstitutional.
And that could mean less stability for Hong Kong in the days to come.
Two candidates of the Youngspiration Party also won seats.
The loudest pro-independence voices were banned by the government from standing in the vote, a move which triggered widespread anger.
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Prior to the vote, senior administration figures in both Hong Kong and Beijing had warned against supporting a candidate linked with independence.
