These are interesting times in Hong Kong politics. Rarely has the city seen the government get so involved in galvanising voters ahead of the Legislative Council election. These things have traditionally been the work of political parties and groups. And that is one prominent feature of the development of Hong Kong’s “patriots-only” political system.
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Before the overhaul of the election system, voter turnout was a barometer of sorts for the election outcome. Conventional wisdom was that the higher the voter turnout, the more the opposition candidates would benefit. Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai has even suggested that a low voter turnout could mean that people are satisfied with the government’s work.
However, now that the opposition has no place in the city’s politics – so much so that even centrist lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen’s political group failed to secure enough nominations to become candidates – achieving a high voter turnout seems to be an important focus.
Of course, the election is still competitive. It’s good to see there are no uncontested seats, even for the functional constituencies, even though it isn’t without controversy, as we’ve seen with the tourism constituency.
Without a doubt, the government has ramped up its campaign. It is organising a gala show, titled “Let’s Vote, Together We Create the Future”, ahead of polling day. It is distributing free tickets to residents to attend the variety show, and seven local broadcasters will air it. A music video with an election theme song has also been released.
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Moreover, the city’s senior officials have put together some very creative promotional videos to drum up support for the election.
