Pro-Beijing candidates sweep Hong Kong's Legislative Council election amid low voter turnout

Amid low voting turnout under amended electoral laws, pro- Beijing candidates have swept to victory in Hong Kong's Legislative Council election.

The election was the first in Hong Kong since Beijing amended electoral laws to reduce the number of directly elected legislators and vet candidates to ensure that only those loyal to China could run, reported Al Jazeera.

Some 30.2 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in Sunday's election, a figure that is almost half that of the previous legislative poll in 2016.

Turnout is a central issue, as observers consider it a barometer of legitimacy in an election where pro-democracy candidates are largely absent, and a crackdown under a China-imposed national security law has jailed dozens of pro-democratic contenders who had originally wanted to run, and forced others into exile.

Under the electoral shake-up, the proportion of directly elected seats was reduced from approximately half to less than a quarter or 20 seats.

Forty seats were selected by a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists, while the remaining 30 were filled by professional and business sectors such as finance and engineering, known as functional constituencies, reported Al Jazeera.

The latest results show that almost all of the seats have been taken by pro-Beijing and pro-establishment candidates.

Half of the directly elected seats were won by the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), reported Al Jazeera.

"I do not believe this (the low turnout) is directly related to citizens not agreeing with this electoral system," Starry Lee told reporters. "I believe it needs some time for people to get adapted to this system."

The election - in which only candidates screened by the government as "patriots" could run - has been criticised by some activists, foreign governments and rights groups as undemocratic.

Mainstream pro-democracy parties did not participate, saying they could not endorse any candidates for a poll that was undemocratic.

Most of the dozen or so candidates who called themselves moderates, including former democratic legislator Frederick Fung, failed to gain a seat, beaten by pro-Beijing rivals, reported Al Jazeera.

Some overseas democrats, like Sunny Cheung, who moved to the United States to escape prosecution under the national security law, said most of Hong Kong had "consciously boycotted the election to express their discontent to the world".

There was no immediate comment from China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong on the result and the low turnout.

( With inputs from ANI )

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