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| moreAbout East Asia |
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| 09.13.2004 The Straits Times HK's opposition falls short of expectations HONG KONG - Pro-democracy opposition figures scored three new seats in Hong Kong's legislature but fell short of expectations, official results showed on Monday as critics attacked problems with the voting and the counting. The opposition camp won 25 of the territory's 60 seats, up from 22 in the current legislature, according to final, official results. Beijing's authoritarian leadership was worried about the outcome of Hong Kong's greatest-ever exercise of democracy, seven years after Britain returned this former colony to the motherland. The political atmosphere has been highly charged by massive protest marches against the government over an anti-subversion law that many saw as a threat to their freedom, and widespread unhappiness with China's recent decision to rule out full democracy for now. But the pro-democracy side fell far short of a majority, while the pro-Beijing and pro-government rivals did better than expected. Sunday's contest was plunged into controversy even before the results were tallied. Polling stations ran short of ballot boxes, prompting some angry people to give up rather than wait to cast their vote. Constitutional Affairs Secretary Stephen Lam apologised and promised an immediate investigation, but critics weren't appeased. Election workers carried out a recount of votes on Hong Kong Island after opposition lawmakers charged that some ballot boxes had been left unguarded and the initial tally of votes exceeded the number of ballots issued. 'This is a big problem,' said well-known opposition lawmaker Martin Lee, who won re-election. The recount produced no changes. Mr Lee's Democratic Party acknowledged not performing as well as it had hoped ever since 500,000 Hong Kongers turned out on July 1, 2003, for an anti-government protest that sparked a so-called 'people power' movement that shifted the political landscape here. Analysts had predicted ahead of Sunday's vote that the pro-democratic camp, which also includes politicians from smaller parties and independents, could win up to 28 seats. 'Beijing will think the election results are quite positive and will be relieved,' said Mr Ma Ngok, a political scientist at the University of Science and Technology. Showing their faith in democracy, 1.78 million people cast ballots - a 55 per cent turnout that also was a record. Half of the 60 legislative seats were directly elected, with 3.2 million people registered to vote. The other half were picked by less than 200,000 members of special interest groups such as business, law and accounting that tend to back Beijing. Critics call the system rigged, and ordinary voters made it clear they prefer the pro-democracy camp. The pro-democracy side won 18 of the 30 directly elected seats, but just seven of the 30 special interest seats. The opposition blamed their disappointing performance on scandals that embroiled two candidates, one of whom was been locked up in mainland China since allegedly being caught cavorting with a prostitute last month. Beijing's allies denied charges they had orchestrated a smear campaign. -- AP |