2019 was a watershed year marred by riots and disruptive district council (DC) elections, with some candidates fearing for their lives.

Foreign forces had planted the seeds of dissent throughout our social fabric and education system and within our Legislative Council. Hong Kong was heading down the road to anarchy. The painful incidents were a wake-up call to weed out undesirables hell-bent on destroying Hong Kong.

As a result of the chaos created by the political agitators in district councils after they took control of most of them through the 2019 DC elections, all district councilors were required to swear to uphold the Basic Law and bear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Previously, district councilors were not required to take the oath, so amendments were made in the Public Offices (Candidacy and Taking Up Offices) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2021, which implements the oath-taking requirements for all public officers as stipulated in the Interpretation of Article 104 of the Basic Law. 

After four oath-taking ceremonies, the oaths taken by 49 district councilors were ruled invalid, and many more councillors resigned after refusing to take the oath, leaving more than 70 percent of seats in the 18 district councils vacant. In early July 2021, the government reportedly considered banning 230 councilors who failed to take the oath of office and requiring them to return their accrued salaries, worth around HK$1 million ($128,000) each. Such reports triggered a mass resignation of more than 260 councilors, while eight others were unseated as they were in custody for alleged offenses or had left the city for fear of legal repercussions for their alleged illegal acts.

READ MORE: Hong Kong District Council Ordinary election 2023 at a glance

This year, the district council elections passed off without incident, except for a couple of failed disruptive incidents by local activists and a breakdown in the computer system, which necessitated the manual registration of electors in the evening.

The Electoral Affairs Commission received 399 nominations, of whom 228 were running for the 176 seats in the District Committee constituencies, and 171 for the 88 seats in geographical constituencies

At the end of the day, 27.54 percent of eligible voters chose their representatives on the 18 district councils. It was not a high turnout but a quality one. The low turnout could be attributed to many factors — general apathy regarding the duties of the district councilors, the breakdown of the voter register system, or just plain laziness, which some analysts say was caused by an overkill of government announcements of public importance.

But the high quality of candidates in Sunday’s elections was the result of a strict vetting system of candidates to ensure that only patriots who are also sufficiently capable could participate in the race. The West has taunted Hong Kong for ensuring only patriots can run for election, but that is precisely what they require in their own elections.

The seventh-term district councils formed under the new electoral system are composed of 470 seats, including 179 appointed members, 176 members elected by the district committees, 88 members elected by voters in the district council geographic constituencies, and 27 ex-officio members. 

The chief executive appoints 179 members of the public who a review committee has carefully scrutinized. The 176 councilors from the District Committee constituencies are elected by an electoral college made up of members of the Area Committee, the District Fight Crime Committee and the District Fire Safety Committee (96.6 percent turnout); the 88 councilors from the district council geographical constituencies are elected by registered voters; and the 27 ex-officio members are leaders of rural committees, or Heung Yee Kuk.

The Electoral Affairs Commission received 399 nominations, of whom 228 were running for the 176 seats in the District Committee constituencies, and 171 for the 88 seats in geographical constituencies.

But regardless of what the Western press and politicians say, it is not the numbers that count, but the quality of the young men and women, many in their 30s and 40s, who have decided to step forward and embrace community service. These municipal interns of today will be the lawmakers and leaders of tomorrow.

Yes, they have been carefully vetted, but that was necessary after the bitter lessons from the 2019 insurrection upheaval and the subsequent 2021 weighted DC elections. The vetting process ensures there will be no repeat of the poison instilled in the minds of young councilors by foreign forces. They implanted a sense of wayward ideology of grandeur and secessionism. The candidates put forward for the 2023 DC elections were independent thinkers capable of offering their constituents the best possible service available. Their internship in the district councils will groom them to advance further in the political field to become members of the Legislative Council.

US-state-owned Voice of America predictably attributed the low turnout of voters in the geographical constituencies to “political apathy”. But to be fair, the broadcaster also quoted voters like Ming Chan, who said: “For me, I never voted in the past over the 40, 50 years of living in Hong Kong. This time, I came out to vote to show my support to the current government as they are really doing a good job for the people.” 

READ MORE: Quality of future district councilors is crucial benchmark of success of DC vote

Most of the Western press took a similar negative line, but this was to be expected. Renegade activist Agnes Chow Ting, who recently said she intends to break her bail conditions while in Canada, told Nikkei Asia the elections were fake, which is great coming from someone who supported an illegal election which required winners to sign a pledge to block all government bills, including the budget, to cripple the HKSAR government.

The author is a former chief information officer of the Hong Kong Government, a PR and media consultant, and a veteran journalist.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.