High voter turnout in Hong Kong district polls

Hong Kong: Voters on Sunday turned out in large numbers to the polling booths for the district council election, which is seen as a test of support for Hong Kong’s embattled Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Long queues of voters were witnessed at polling stations before the voting officially began at 7.30 a.m..

By 4.30 p.m. local time, more than 2.1 million people had voted (52.14 per cent) as compared to 7,54,705 voters (24.18 per cent) within the same timescale during the previous election in 2015, BBC reported, citing data from the Hong Kong electoral authorities.

The 4.13 million people (in a city of about 7.5 million residents) eligible to vote will choose 452 councillors out of the 1,090 contesting candidates from the 18 districts of Hong Kong. The number of registered voters has increased by one million compared to the 2015 elections; 392,600 of them were added in the last year, coinciding with the protests, and 58 per cent of them are aged between 18-20, Efe news reported.

Although the position of Councillor carries little practical power, Sunday’s elections are seen as a barometer to gauge the political leanings of the city in the wake of the pro-democracy movement that has led to prolonged protests on the streets in recent months, as well as determine the support enjoyed by the pro-mainland Chief Executive Carrie Lam. (IANS)

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