Democrats make gains in Hong Kong but fail to win mandate for reform
Sun Sep 12, 4:53 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1511&ncid=1511&e=6&u=/afp/20040912/wl_afp/hongkong_vote_040912205359
World – AFP
HONG KONG (AFP) – Democrats tightened their grip on Hong Kong’s legislature with gains in elections but failed to win the mandate needed to push their agenda of universal suffrage in the southern Chinese enclave.
Democratic leaders expressed disappointment at the results but took heart from winning a majority of the popular vote, an indication they said that Hong Kongers are dissatisfied with the city’s rulers in China.
With some 60 percent of votes counted almost six hours after polls closed, the pro-democracy camp had extended its presence by three seats to 25 in the 60-seat Legislative Council.
The count included only the 30 directly elected seats in the legislature: the rest will be decided by a small number of privileged corporate and middle class voters who traditionally back pro-Beijing candidates.
Blaming the movement’s poor showing on a rash of scandals ahead of the election, democratic leaders said they had hoped for bigger wins.
“I am not happy with that,” a terse Martin Lee, the movement’s veteran figurehead, told AFP after exit polls predicted a poor showing by democrats
Yeung Sum, chairman of the Democratic Party, the pro-democracy camp’s prime organisation, put a brave face on things.
“We would have liked to get more seats, obviously, but we appear to have won a majority of the vote, so we are pleased with that,” Yeung told AFP.
Sunday’s election was being seen as a referendum on the city’s feelings towards China following 14 months of turmoil when Beijing was accused of interfering in the running of the city.
Hong Kong has been a largely self-governed enclave of China since it took control from colonial power Britain in 1997.
But China has adopted a more hands-on role since half a million people took to the streets on July 1 last year criticising the local Beijing-picked government.
It is concerned the growing calls for full democracy in Hong Kong that followed the rally could be socially and economically destabilising. It also fears they could spark similar demands on the mainland.
Yeung said Sunday’s election sent a clear message that Hong Kong did not want China’s interference and that it signalled the public’s support for democrats’ calls for universal suffrage by 2007, when the city’s political leader must next be chosen
“We won a majority of the vote so you can see that the result of the so-called referendum on China was won on our side,” Yeung said. “You can draw the conclusion that there are more who support it than oppose it.”
Despite pro-democracy candidates winning a majority of the popular vote, Hong Kong’s convoluted electoral system means those votes do not translate into a majority of the legislature seats.
A democratic majority would still have been no guarantee of power as the city’s Beijing-appointed political leader has veto rights over any decision the legislature makes.
Parties supportive of Beijing had notched up another two seats halfway through the count, benefiting from an increase in the number of seats directly elected this year. They retain their control of the chamber.
Among the expected winners were Yeung and Lee and maverick radical activist Leung Kwok-hung. James Tien, the leader of Beijing’s most favoured party was also on course to win.
Some 53 percent, or 1.7 million, of the 3.2 registered voters had turned out, the highest number of ballots cast in any election in Hong Kong.
—
Exit polls predict gains for democrats in Hong Kong legislative poll
Sun Sep 12, 1:34 PM ET
The Legislative Council is the highest directly elected office in China and its territories but the convoluted electoral rules mean only half of these will be chosen by direct vote.
The other 30 will be chosen by a small elite of 199,000 predominantly corporate executives traditionally regarded as pro-Beijing. Eleven of those seats are uncontested.
Critics complain this guarantees the business lobby an unhealthy stranglehold over the territory’s affairs, and ensures the pro-democracy lobby is unable to take control.
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World – AFP
Democrats make disappointing showing in Hong Kong vote
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1511&ncid=1511&e=18&u=/afp/20040913/wl_afp/hongkong_vote_040913160314
Mon Sep 13,12:03 PM ET
World – AFP
HONG KONG (AFP) – Pro-democracy parties made smaller than expected gains in Hong Kong elections which were seen as a referendum on the territory’s Beijing-backed rulers.
Democratic leaders expressed disappointment at their performance in Sunday’s poll, despite securing a majority of the popular vote in an election marked by the highest-ever turnout in the former British colony.
The pro-democracy camp won a convincing 18 of the 30 legislative council seats which are chosen by the territory’s 3.2 million voters, picking up 58.6 percent of ballots cast.
But pro-Beijing parties retained control of the council. The remaining 30 seats are reserved for so-called functional constituencies representing mainly the business community and chosen by just 200,000 voters.
The election was fought against the backdrop of increasingly vocal calls for full democracy in the territory and efforts by Beijing to dampen its political aspirations because of fears that a rush towards democracy would unsettle mainland China.
The pro-democracy camp in total secured 25 seats on the 60-seat council, up from the 22 it previously held but down on projections of 28 or 29.
Pro-Beijing parties and independents who normally support them held the remaining seats, apparently undermining the democracy camp’s case that voters would punish leaders for ruling out fully democratic elections by 2007.
“I broke into tears” after hearing we had not won control, a defiant Yeung Sum, chairman of the pro-democracy camp’s main organisation, the Democratic Party, told a press conference.
However Yeung remained defiant, calling the result a “big step forward” and saying some good had come from the election.
“(The result) simply demonstrated that the majority of the people decided that they still want democracy.”
China, which regained the territory in 1997, hailed the polls as the “most democratic” in Hong Kong’s history. It cautioned lawmakers to “be loyal to their vows and seriously carry out their work … and bear in mind the overall and long-term interest of China as well as Hong Kong.”
Beijing had tried to sway voters with economic incentives and patriotic events including a visit by the country’s Olympic team.
Critics also claim it orchestrated a smear campaign involving allegations of sex and property scandals involving democrats.
The election was being seen as a referendum on the city’s sentiment towards Beijing following 14 months of turmoil when the Chinese leadership was accused of interfering in the running of the city.
Hong Kong has been a largely self-governed region of China since 1997.
But China has adopted a more hands-on role since half a million people took to the streets on July 1 last year in protest at Beijing-backed plans to introduce a new security law.
Results were delayed when electoral officials ordered a recount of ballots cast on Hong Kong Island, following allegations by pro-democracy candidates that rules had been breached.
Activist said ballot boxes were illegally opened and some voters turned away from polling stations.
Analysts blamed the poorer than expected result on the democrats’ poor election strategy.
“The deck is stacked against them,” said Paul Harris, politics and government associate professor at Lingnan University. But he said parties had not used the complicated electoral system to their favour and had fielded the wrong combinations of candidates.
Some 55.6 percent of the 3.2 million registered voters turned out, the highest number of ballots cast in any election in Hong Kong.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 