Hong Kong leader votes in local elections amid simmering tensions

Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has cast her vote in elections seen as a referendum on whether the public still supports long-running protests against her government.

کد خبر: ۹۳۹۳۴۷

تاریخ: ۰۳ آذر ۱۳۹۸ - ۰۸:۳۱

She said on Sunday that organising this year's district council elections was extremely challenging because of the unrest, but that the vote should be relatively peaceful and calm thanks to the efforts of all involved.

The polls opened on Sunday morning for 452 seats in the city's 18 district councils.

The councils are largely advisory and have little power. But the election has taken on symbolic importance in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

A strong showing by the opposition would show that the public still supports the pro-democracy movement, even as the protests have become increasingly violent.

There has been a rare break in the violence in recent days as protesters, anxious to validate their cause through the ballot box, hit the pause button to ensure the polls won't be postponed.

The ruling camp in Hong Kong and the national government in Beijing hope that the unrest and disruption to daily life will turn voters against the movement.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said that the vote is a "real democratic exercise," and that a strong police presence at polling stations will ensure that it proceeds smoothly.

Online messages from protest support groups have advised people not to wear black or face masks during voting in case they are targeted by police.

At a Chinese People's Liberation Army barracks that borders Polytechnic University, meanwhile, dozens of soldiers in riot gear were seen practising drills, according to a Reuters witness.

PLA soldiers have not publicly engaged in anti-riot efforts on the streets of Hong Kong but such drills suggest a high degree of preparedness amid the current protests.

Both Chinese and Hong Kong leaders have repeatedly said Hong Kong police can handle the situation but Beijing has more than doubled the number of troops in the city since late August, with up to 12,000 on bases scattered across the territory.

The protests snowballed from June after years of resentment over what many residents see as Chinese meddling in freedoms promised to Hong Kong when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Beijing has said it is committed to the "one country, two systems" formula by which Hong Kong is governed. It denies meddling in the affairs of Hong Kong, an Asian financial hub, and accuses foreign governments of stirring up trouble.

However, The Age newspaper reported on Saturday that an apparent Chinese intelligence service agent is seeking asylum in Australia after saying he had details on Beijing's political interference in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

Young pro-democracy activists are running in some of the seats that were once uncontested and dominated by pro-Beijing candidates.

One pro-democracy candidate for the Wan Chai district council, Chris Chan, said the election would reflect public opinion after the upheaval of recent months.

"It is time for us to calm down and tell the government in a civilised way what we want to do," he said.

Few protesters were still visible on the campus, and a visiting lawmaker said their number was so small that there is no need for the police to enter the campus.

Many of the remaining protesters were in hiding, fearful of possible arrest and wary of those urging surrender, said Woo Kwok Wang, the 22-year-old acting president of the university's student union.

About 1000 people have been arrested or registered by police in the university siege, about 300 of them younger than 18.