The election of local governments in Hong Kong, which resulted in a heavy defeat of the supporters of Beijing, has shown public support for the protests that have been going on since June.

In the local elections held yesterday in the shadow of months of protests in China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative District, democracy advocates won most of the municipal council seats, giving the advantage over pro-Beijing supporters.

Democracy advocates have strengthened their hand before next year’s general elections, winning the local elections to elect 452 municipal council members in 18 constituencies in the city of 7,400,000 people.

Turnout was 71.2 per cent, 2,940,000 of the 4,130,000 registered voters went to the polls, and pro-democracy supporters reversed the picture in favour of pro-Chinese in terms of the number of seats in municipal councils.

The decisive victory of pro-democracy

According to the final data of the Hong Kong Registry and Election Office, pro-democracy activists took the lead in 17 of the 18 constituencies. Opponents of China won 344 seats with 76.1 per cent of the vote in the local administration election, which was contested for a total of 452 seats. In the local election, where pro-Beijing voters won only 58 seats with 12.8 per cent of the vote, independent candidates won 41 seats with 9.1 per cent of the vote. Counting is underway for the 9 seats, which corresponds to 2 per cent of the vote.

The democratic alliance for improvement and progress, the largest pro-Beijing party in the autonomous region, was frustrated in local elections, bringing only 21 of its 179 candidates into municipal councils.

While the public’s record participation in the region’s only “full-democratic” election stood out, protests against the bill for extradition to China, which has been increasing in intensity since June, have found support from the majority of the public at the polls.

The election, which is a “vote of confidence” for Carrie Lam, the pro-Beijing Special Administrative Regional Manager, also plays a certain role in seeing the public equivalent of the Chinese central government’s practices on Hong Kong. He was playing.

People can’t go to the polls in general elections

In the city, where MPs, cabinet members and the government leader were elected by the 1,200-strong committee based on candidates designated by the Beijing leadership, democracy advocates decided to allow Beijing’s dominance in the region to practice this single “fully democratic” ballot box. He cared a lot about breaking it.

Candidates who have won the local elections will also have the right to vote to determine the government by entering a 1,200-strong committee on behalf of citizens living in the regions they represent.

Hong Kong’s status

Hong Kong was transferred to China in 1997 after many years of British rule under a “lease agreement” signed in 1898.

Within the framework of the joint declaration signed, Hong Kong was granted the right to protect its freedoms such as press, expression, assembly, faith and free academic work until 2047, as well as its independent administrative and legal structure.

Hong Kong is affiliated with China but uses its own currency, language, legal system and identity. This model of governance, in which the autonomous region depends solely on Beijing on issues such as defence and foreign policy, is called “one country, two systems”.

Democracy advocates argue that current Chinese practices in the region are contrary to that model, especially in Hong Kong, where candidates are determined by the Beijing administration.