The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong announces the candidate list of the 2021 Hong Kong Legislative Council election at the DAB headquarters in North Point, Hong Kong, Oct 29, 2021. (RAYMOND CHAN / CHINA DAILY)
Hong Kong's largest political party in the legislature announced on Friday it will field 18 candidates in the December Legislative Council election — 10 in geographical constituencies, four in functional constituencies, and four in seats returned by the Election Committee.
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The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which occupies 13 seats in the current legislature, also declared its intention to win 18 seats under the revamped electoral system.
Under the DAB campaign slogan of “Reform, seek changes for the future”, DAB Chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king, who is running for re-election to LegCo this year, said that the party will strive to solving the deep-rooted social problems while seizing opportunities to help the city better integrate into the nation’s overall development.
Lee will compete in the Kowloon Central geographical constituency, while the current Kwun Tong district councilor, Ngan Man-yu, will run in Kowloon East.
Incumbent lawmaker Elizabeth Quat Pui-fan and former Tsuen Wan West district councilor Nixie Lam will run for the Election Committee sector.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong announces the candidate list of the 2021 Hong Kong Legislative Council election at the DAB headquarters in North Point, Hong Kong, Oct 29, 2021. (RAYMOND CHAN / CHINA DAILY)
The announcement was made one day before the two-week nomination period for Legislative Council elections kicks off.
According to a survey conducted by Hong Kong’s think tank Bauhinia Institute, more than 80 percent of the 1,520 local respondents said they will pay attention to the upcoming election in December.
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A total 77.9 percent of respondents believed that all sincere patriots will have a fair chance to participate in this LegCo election, while more than 83 percent expected the election to fully reflect the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong”, while over 70 percent believe there will be healthy competition as well as an active voter turnout.
In March 2021, the National People’s Congress revamped the electoral system of the special administrative region, expanding seats in the Legislative Council from 70 to 90. Twenty seats are to be returned by direct elections from 10 geographical constituencies around Hong Kong; 30 from 28 functional constituencies covering different professional sectors; and the remaining 40 will be chosen by the newly elected 1,500-member Election Committee, which is composed of representatives from various sectors.
