On Nov 29, the Nottingham City Council, the third-largest city council in the United Kingdom, declared bankruptcy. This marks the second major city in the UK to declare bankruptcy this year, following Birmingham.
Considering Nottingham’s long-standing financial issues, one would expect local citizens to be concerned about the councilors’ incompetence in addressing livelihood and homelessness problems that have plagued the city for some time. This should have triggered a high voter turnout in the local council elections.
However, during the local elections held on May 4, out of the 20 districts in Nottingham City, at least 12 had a turnout rate below 30 percent. The lowest turnout rate was 20.34 percent in the Radford district. The two successful candidates received only 672 and 759 votes. The highest number of votes for a successful candidate in the entire election was 2,367.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s 2023 District Council (DC) Ordinary Election, held on Sunday, saw 1.19 million voters turning out to vote in the 18 districts, with an average turnout rate of 27.54 percent. The highest number of votes for a successful candidate was 22,775, and the lowest was 3,061. This was despite the temporary failure of the electronic poll register system during the peak polling hours in the evening, which caused impatience among those waiting in line to vote.
While Nottingham faces critical financial and social issues, Hong Kong’s district affairs have been relatively harmonious since the successful clampdown on the 2019 insurrection. There were no pressing issues compelling people to vote.
Therefore, for those who are fair-minded, it is clear that the results of Hong Kong’s DC election are more favorable than those of Nottingham’s. Yet the Guardian and other Western media outlets wasted no time in lambasting the DC election outcome, labeling it as a “setback” in democracy. The irony was that of all international media outlets, the British publications are the most acutely aware of the absence of democracy in Hong Kong during its 150 years of British rule!
Foreign media outlets highlighted the exceptionally high turnout rate of 71 percent in the 2019 DC election, while intentionally neglecting to provide the extraordinary context.
First, the previous DC Ordinary Election took place at the height of the 2019 riots. Most crucially, anti-government sentiment was being fanned by certain local media outlets, such as Apple Daily, backed by the West, including PR professionals who created captivating electioneering falsehoods to captivate young people already brainwashed by a distorted education system. In other words, all of that led to a perfect storm that saw innocent young people doing the bidding of many political demagogues campaigning for election. Many radical youths and the electorate were manipulated and maneuvered into thinking that the election was their golden opportunity to subvert the local political structure and strive for “Hong Kong independence”, while others wanted to express their displeasure to the central government over their failure to push through their desired political reforms in Hong Kong. To enhance their chances of success, many impulsive young people were encouraged to resort to violence and engage in illegal acts. At the same time, young people were bombarded with faked tales of “police brutality” aimed at firing up their opposition to the establishment.
Second, the then-opposition camp succeeded in inciting young people to register as new voters, totaling about 400,000. This was crucial for their victory, as the opposition camp defeated the pro-establishment camp by only 260,000 votes. Consequently, we witnessed the most absurd results where an utterly unknown candidate from the opposition camp with only a primary school education defeated a seasoned candidate from the pro-establishment camp who had diligently served the district for many years.
Third, there were numerous acts of violence during the campaign period, targeting pro-establishment candidates. They were harassed from conducting election activities, and candidates’ offices and street stands were subjected to criminal damage. One patriotic candidate, Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, was stabbed while conducting an election activity on the street. All of these significantly affected the pro-establishment candidates’ campaign activities.
As for the West’s endless carping about Hong Kong elections, it is time that they look in their own backyard and be confronted with massive local issues that cry out for bold and decisive actions to remedy
Despite these illegal activities perpetrated against pro-establishment candidates, the opposition camp managed to secure only 52 percent of the total votes. However, because of the innate distortions of the first-past-the-post election tabulation system, they gained complete control of all 18 district councils. The description of the so-called “landslide victory in 2019” is misleading.
And let’s not forget the underhanded foreign interference. The US Congress hastily passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act just before the election, no longer hiding its all-out support for the opposition camp. In essence, what we witnessed in the 2019 DC elections was a Hong Kong version of a “color revolution” instigated by the US, following the same modus operandi they have used to interfere in elections in other places, some resulting in regime change.
Therefore, the high turnout rate of 71 percent in the 2019 DC elections resulted from a highly politicized election further corrupted by thinly disguised foreign interference, which is an act criminalized under the US judicial system. As it turned out, the district councils returned by a high turnout driven by political machinations had a devastating impact on the whole of Hong Kong, particularly on the district affairs.
The elected councilors had no interest in running district affairs for the betterment of the district. They focused, as expected, on advancing their self-serving political agendas and engaged in blatant subversion of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government. More often than not, they used the DC meetings to summon senior officials just to insult them. They were acting as tools of certain Western governments. Many of them have since absconded to the UK and the US.
It’s worth noting that a bomb-manufacturing nest was discovered by police just one week before Sunday’s elections, indicating that the anti-China subversives are still active in Hong Kong.
Out of pressing need, the government was entirely justified in undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of the electoral system, including abolishing the “first past the post” arrangement, to ensure a fair and representative election, and that only patriots who are genuinely interested in serving residents can run.
A fair assessment of the DC elections should be based on more than the turnout rate. What’s more important is an objective assessment of their performance at the conclusion of their four-year term.
As for the West’s endless carping about Hong Kong elections, it is time that they look in their own backyard and be confronted with massive local issues that cry out for bold and decisive actions to remedy. They might want to take an important lesson first from Hong Kong: Ensure that only individuals of quality, dedication and integrity are allowed to compete in their elections. Additionally, they should adopt the strict election laws of Hong Kong and enforce them effectively through agencies like Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption in order to ensure clean and fair elections.
The author is an honorary fellow of HKU Space and Metropolitan Universities, a council member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, and a former deputy commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
