Cardinal Zen: low turnout, but result "not so bad"
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The low turnout for the by-elections of legislators of 16 May, although disappointing, showed, according to the secretary of the Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace, local people’s awareness of democracy and the need of abolition of functional constituency.
Lina Chan told AsiaNews that the fact that voter turnout was at 17.1%, about 579 thousand voters out of 3.24 million, is "disappointing", but the votes clearly indicate support for by-elections, or de facto referendum, which provided local people a chance to discuss the road to democracy in Hong Kong.
The by-election was triggered by resignations of five legislators in late January and gave rise to a "geographic". Referendum. All of them were re-elected to the Legislative Council. Reasons for low turnout were complicated, Chan explained, by Beijing officials’ declaring the referendum unconstitutional as well as by top government officials and pro-establishment camps’ boycotting the poll.
Also feeling “a bit disappointed” at the turnout was Cardinal Joseph Zen, who specially flew back from Rome to cast his ballot on May 16. Today he told AsiaNews that the low turnout showed many pro-democracy supporters did not vote “but the result was not bad amid many hindrances, as the actual number of voters was not that small”. The by-elections, he said, have given people the opportunity to express a hope for true universal suffrage.
The Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, speaking on a radio program after the vote, said the low turnout showed that the local population does not like radical steps to achieve the goals and hopes that society will now focus on gaining consensus on the government package of political reforms.
Now, the local government concerns about the passing of a political reform package of electoral methods for chief executive and Legislative Council in 2012, enlarging democratic elements preparing a universal suffrage in 2017 and 2020 for chief executive and legislative council respectively, in the next two months.
Cardinal Zen said he hoped the Government's proposal is blocked, as it has brought no improvement to the democratic process.
An editorial of Hong Kong Economic Journal says that despite the low participation the desire of local people for full democracy is evident. The government's plan may possibly be rejected again, as it was in 2005. The issue of political reform, in fact, has heightened contrast between the government and pan-democrats, making government policies difficult to pass in the Legislative Council in future.
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21/10/2021 09:57
