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Hongkongers headed to polling stations to elect their new representatives in the legislature on Sunday amid a sombre atmosphere, with the city dealing with the aftermath of the catastrophic fire in Tai Po that claimed at least 159 lives.
Before the deadly blaze broke out at Wang Fuk Court on November 26, authorities had been promoting the Legislative Council election in a whirlwind of publicity and seeking to boost turnout by announcing new designated polling stations for civil servants on duty and longer polling hours.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu last week announced that the city would press on with the election despite the tragedy, arguing that the incoming lawmakers would be the partners he needed to help launch reforms in the wake of the inferno.
All eyes were on how the fire would affect voter participation after the city’s first poll under Beijing’s “patriots-only” overhaul drew a record low turnout of 30.2 per cent in 2021.
Hongkongers cast ballots in city’s legislative election
Hongkongers cast ballots in city’s legislative election
Turnout for Sunday’s election in the geographical constituencies reached 31.9 per cent, with nearly 1.32 million general voters casting their ballots. That surpassed the 30.2 per cent cumulative turnout rate in the 2021 election, but remained below the 52.28 per cent recorded in 2016.
Follow the latest live updates of the Legco election below.
Reporting by Matthew Cheng, Willa Wu, Vivian Au, Jess Ma, Kelly Fung, Stephy Zhang, Emily Hung, Edith Lin, Harvey Kong, Themis Chen, Susan Su, Oscar Liu and Jeffie Lam