Hong Kong elects Occupy activist to legislature
Hong Kong has voted into its legislature Nathan Law, a key player in the territory's 2014 pro-democracy protests.
|||Hong Kong - Hong Kong - in a landmark election that saw record turnout - voted into its legislature Nathan Law, a key player in the territory's 2014 pro-democracy protests.
Law, 23, will represent Hong Kong Island, one of the five geographical constituencies in Hong Kong's legislative council.
The council has the power to to enact, amend and repeal laws; endorse the appointment and removal of judges; and impeach the city's top official, the chief executive.
As of 9.30pm Sunday some 2 milion people, around 52.57 per cent of registered voters in Hong Kong turned out to vote, according to government statistics provided on the election website.
Some stayed to vote until 2.30am, well past the 10.30pm cut-off point designated by the Electoral Comission.
The election comes at a time Hong Kong residents fear they are gradually losing their long-cherished freedom to speak critically and openly about the governments in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Law is the candidate for newly formed political party Demosisto, formed by several former student activists involved in the 2014 Occupy protest. They advocate for Hong Kong to retain its autonomy from mainland China once the Sino-British joint declaration that ceded Hong Kong to China expires in 2047.
Veteran lawmakers will be joined by a host of younger faces that are part of a localist movement seeking greater autonomy.
Counting is still under way in one geographical constituency and in several of the many functional constituencies, but so far the alliance of pro-democratic candidates has managed to hold on to the 18 seats they need to retain veto power in the council.
The result means that the pro-democracy advocates will be able to continue to block a controversial election reform bill which would have seen a majority pro-Beijing committee pre-select the candidates running for the city's top chief executive position.
The pro-Beijing - also known as the pro-establishment - bloc of candidates retain the bulk of the seats.
Hong Kong's legislature operates within a partially democratic system. The public directly elects only half of the 70 lawmakers, who are known as the geographic constituency.
The other half is selected by members of professional associations, district councillors and trade groups and is known as the functional constituency.
Hong Kong has a legal and governance system separate to that of mainland China as part of a treaty that ceded the territory from Britain in 1997.
Sunday's election was marred by accusations of fraud, an uncommon occurrence in the city.
Pro-Beijing supporters have been accused of offering financial incentives to potential supporters and bringing in busloads of former Hong Kong residents living in China to vote in the election.
Several voters have claimed their registrations had been tampered with by placing them in districts where they currently do not live.
The Chief Executive in a statement Sunday night however praised the conduct of the commission in ensuring fair elections.
dpa