Hong Kong’s exclusive officials urge Reuters to take part in first “patriotic” elections

By Clare Jim and James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong officials are working to promote participation in Sunday’s legislative elections, according to diplomats and people familiar with the effort.

As part of these actions, two Chinese state-owned bank employees have called for a vote, two friends who are familiar with the matter and an e-mail seen by Reuters have said.

After rewriting the election law in March, saying that the government can only be administered by “patriots”, Hong Kong is holding its first Legislative Council elections without the city’s major democratic parties running for office.

Hong Kong’s leaders – and China’s leadership in Beijing, which backed Britain from regaining control of its colony from China in 1997 – pledged to maintain financial autonomy in 1997 – seem to lack the support of the vote and fear low turnout. two diplomats told Reuters.

Senior officials have made high-level appeals to voters, and public transportation operators have said they will provide free transportation on election day.

Authorities have also warned that it is illegal to encourage a person not to vote or to invalidate a vote, including in the international media. Democracy activists have called on voters to disregard the election in order to prevent the arrest of those who fled Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s chief of staff Carrie Lam and the city’s Beijing Liaison Office did not respond to requests from Reuters to comment on efforts to mobilize voter turnout.

Prior to the election, the two lenders sent e-mails to encourage employees to vote, according to an e-mail from two friends who are aware of the issue and Reuters.

The Bank of China (Hong Kong) sent two emails in recent weeks asking local workers to vote, and conducted an informal survey asking them if they intended to do so, the person said.

Reuters in an email Monday asked China Construction Bank (OTC 🙂 International to vote for Hong Kong workers. “Please give your sacred vow to Hong Kong and to you,” he said.

That day the bank issued a public call to vote on its official WeChat account to ensure that the vote would help improve the electoral system and ensure that there were “patriots who run Hong Kong”.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) and China Construction Bank International did not respond to requests for comment.

In February, police accused Hong Kong’s 47 pro-democracy campaign of conspiracy to subvert their role in the unofficial primary elections, after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city last year.

Shortly after the arrests, the Chinese parliament announced major changes in the election landscape, reducing the number of directly elected seats from one-half to one-quarter, and an election commission full of pro-Beijing figures will elect more than a third of parliamentary seats.

Many prominent Democrats are imprisoned and awaiting trial or have fled to avoid prosecution.

Hong Kong officials are also trying to lower their expectations for voting levels or try to talk about the importance of low turnout.

Secretary-General John Lee, second in Hong Kong, said on December 11 that foreign agents were trying to disrupt the election. He gave no evidence.

Lame, the city’s leader, told the Global Times last week, a nationalist newspaper published by the People’s Party of the Communist Party of China was involved in many factors.

“When the government is doing well and its credibility is high, voter turnout is said to be declining because people do not have a strong demand to elect several MPs to oversee the government,” Lame said.

“That’s why I don’t think the participation rate means anything.”

He said the election would now be chosen “with a more balanced turnout that is much more representative” and “more patriotic to govern the city.”

In the previous 2016 elections, it accounted for 58% of voters. It has been 43.6% since the 1997 transfer in 2000.