This district council election has taken on an outsize meaning to gauge the pulse of Hong Kong. “This is going to be a referendum on whether you support an autocratic government or you want to safeguard our way of life in Hong Kong,” one candidate said.
Hong Kong’s district council elections usually inspire a collective yawn. The largely consultative body has no lawmaking powers and is better known for making minor neighborhood improvements or doling outBut after nearly six months of antigovernment protests, the election Sunday has taken on an outsize meaning to gauge the pulse of Hong Kong.
Chaos could serve Beijing’s interests, Dapiran said, because it could fuel propaganda at home that democracy doesn’t work.As proof, critics question the manner in which police laid siege to Hong Kong Polytechnic University this week,. Protesters, including many teenagers, hurled petrol bombs and shot arrows. Police threatened to use live ammunition.
The unrest over the weekend prompted Hong Kong’s secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, Patrick Nip, to signal the election could be called off if demonstrators continued to obstruct traffic or disrupt mass transit. “The movement is going to go underground,” he added. “People are saying we need to be like [the Irish Republican Army] in Northern Ireland.”a proposed bill that would have allowed extraditions to China
Adding to the pressure on China was the passage Tuesday in the U.S. Senate of legislation aimed at protecting human rights Hong Kong, a rare bipartisan victory. If signed into law, it would give the secretary of State the ability to evaluate Hong Kong’s autonomy in order to maintain its special trading relationship with the U.S.
Beyond just symbolism, the district council races could have consequences for Hong Kong’s higher legislative body and the selection of its next chief executive .
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