Hong Kong residents have turned out in unprecedented numbers for local elections that many in the city are treating as a proxy referendum on months of anti-government protests.
Hour-long queues stretched outside many polling stations and by early afternoon more than 1.5 million people had voted, exceeding the total ballots cast in the 2015 elections.
“It’s my first time voting. I registered myself because of the [protest] movement,” said Vivian Lee, an insurance worker in her 30s. “I’m happy so many people have come out to vote, because we want our voices heard. Its the first time I’ve seen people in Hong Kong so politically involved.”
The district councils are relatively toothless bodies, with few powers, limited budgets and a reputation for corruption. In past years the elections have seen low turnout, with disciplined and well-funded pro-Beijing groups winning easy control of almost all councils.
But after protests against a controversial extradition bill exploded into a broad pro-democracy movement that has convulsed the city for nearly six months, they have become a focus of intense political interest.
“If you are willing to march or protest in the streets, which requires blood and sweat and tears, its much easier to walk downstairs and vote,” said one man who has taken part in the street protests, and asked not to be named because of fear of official retaliation.
“Even if the system is broken, we can try to use it against the government. And we have to provide a voice for those who were silenced by death [during protests].”
Hong Kong authorities have frequently insisted that protesters are a vocal but small minority, while they enjoy the support of a “silent majority”.
Frontline protesters in turn point to the huge crowds that came out for peaceful protests – the largest 2 million-strong – before the police started refusing permits for the gathering, to argue they have wide popular backing.
Both sides’ claims are being put to the test in the poll, the only election in the city decided by full universal suffrage. The city’s leader is chosen by an electoral college and only some seats in the city’s legislature are selected in open ballots.
A last-minute surge in registration added nearly 400,000 voters, most of them young, to the rolls, and a wave of novice pro-democracy candidates meant that for the first time in Hong Kong’s history every seat was contested.
Many pro-Beijing candidates were running on promises to “stop the violence” of the protests which have seen hundreds injured, some critically. Battles between police and demonstrators have also repeatedly shut down part or all of the metro, and sections of the city as the two sides trade teargas and rubber bullets for bricks and molotov cocktails.
A stone’s throw from Nam Pin Wai, a village which saw a notorious attack on protestors and commuters in July, several older voters said they would be supporting the government for that reason.
“I think both sides have faults but I am here to support the government. The young ones are too radical,” said Ms Tang, 70, who refused to give her first name. “No matter how noble the protesters’ ideals are, they shouldn’t bash things up and interfere with our daily lives.”
A landslide for pro-democracy candidates would have few immediate political consequences, but longer term it might slightly tip the balance of power in the city, because the councils play a role in choosing the chief executive and some legislators.
Control of a majority of councils might allow pro-democrats to have greater leverage the next time the city chooses a leader, although they would still be far from a majority.
Ahead of the election both sides expressed worries about intimidation, following violence during campaigning that saw one pro-democracy law maker’s ear bitten off and candidates from both sides stabbed.
The polls appeared to run smoothly, although an election monitoring group raised concerns about unidentified people who were taking videos outside polling stations.
“The video-recording may intrude privacy and agitate voters. It may even discourage people to vote and disturb the operation of polling stations,” the Election Observation Project said, urging election authorities to investigate.
Polls close at 10.30pm local time, and the first results are expected in the early hours of Tuesday morning, although the high number turnout may mean vote counting takes longer than in the past.
