The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The calculation of the turnout rate is meaningless.

2021-11-23T08:46:59.569Z


The general election of the Legislative Council is about to be held on December 19. Tian Feilong, director of the National Hong Kong and Macau Research Association, proposed in the newspaper last Thursday (18th) that the "new weighting formula" should be used, that is, together with functional constituencies and electoral committee constituencies.


The general election of the Legislative Council is about to be held on December 19. Tian Feilong, director of the National Hong Kong and Macau Research Association, proposed in the newspaper last Thursday (18th) that the "new weighting formula" should be used, that is, together with functional constituencies and electoral committee constituencies. The reason is that the "total voter turnout rate" is simply "measured directly by the voter turnout rate of direct elections in the region", which can no longer reflect the social recognition of the new electoral system.


This remark immediately caused criticism from the establishment. Members of the Executive Council and the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, Ye Guoqian, said that the recommendations were "boring," "self-deception," and "meaningless," and emphasized that the turnout rate should reflect the reality.


Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said before attending the executive meeting on Tuesday (23) that the "comprehensive voter turnout" was not proposed by the government, and the government also opposed related practices.

She emphasized that the general election of the Legislative Council should continue to use the past "methods accepted by the public" and "clearly and separate several sections to explain to the society."

In other words, the controversy over the calculation method of the voter turnout has come to an end for a while.

It is undeniable that the turnout rate is inextricably linked to the acceptance of elections, and commentators’ views on the pulse of society are to some extent in line with the reality of today’s society.

The problem is that it is purely to change the calculation method of the turnout rate to achieve a high turnout rate. In fact, it is just an illusion, or even a deception.

(Profile picture)

Pay attention to the social atmosphere,


but turnout is not everything

The discussion on the calculation of the turnout rate is undoubtedly because the atmosphere in the general election of this year's Legislative Council has not been as good as before.

Some people worry that the low voter turnout will cause the identity of the election results to be questioned, so they propose to change their past practices.

There is no denying that the turnout rate has a certain relationship with the acceptability of the election, but changing the calculation method of the turnout rate to achieve a higher turnout rate is actually only an illusion, or even a deception.

After all, we must first understand why citizens have reservations about voting.

According to a survey published by the Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinion last month (October), a polling agency, 53% of respondents said that almost all candidates were from the establishment, which reduced their willingness to vote. 46% of respondents said that if mainstream democracy The fact that the faction cannot stand for election will also reduce the desire to vote.

Since this is the current state of society, the real question is how we should face it and how can we increase the public's attention to the Legislative Council election?

First of all, a high voter turnout does not necessarily mean that the system has received social support. Just as former Legislative Council President Jasper Jasper said that the voter turnout has fluctuated over the years, and asked in the past, "Those who came out to vote mean that they support the system at that time?" This vote is the first election after the electoral system has been changed. Many citizens are still unfamiliar with the new arrangement. Some candidates have not had a high exposure rate in the past. It is understandable that the social atmosphere is relatively weak.

Although Tian Feilong’s remarks may have merits, they immediately sparked controversy among the establishment. Among them, the Executive Council member and the DAB Ye Guoqian said that the proposal was undoubtedly "boring", "self-deceiving", and "meaningless", but However, it was emphasized that the turnout rate should reflect the reality.

Use realistic visions and propositions to attract citizens' support

Some people may be obsessed with the calculation method of turnout, but the vision and proposition of each candidate should always be the core of the election.

As mentioned above, this election is the first Legislative Council election after "improving the electoral system." Regardless of who is elected, as members of the next Legislative Council, their opinions and visions will influence the development of Hong Kong society. .

Therefore, whether the candidates propose "improving the economic structure," "how to solve the unfair distribution," or other propositions, these are the focus and key of this election, and they are the "box office guarantee" of the voter turnout.

Regardless of the high vote rate and election atmosphere in the past, those are all things in the past.

Today's election agenda is no longer entangled with the "one country, two systems" imagined by anyone. Instead, it restores basic thinking about how Hong Kong society can break through the past mental dilemma and find a more tolerant and forward-looking social development direction and wealth distribution method.

What the candidates can put forward at this time is what should attract everyone's attention and criticism.

The Legislative Council elections set up ports to vote. The definition of "usually residing in Hong Kong" needs to be reviewed, tolerant and accept candidates for good governance and good governance. The society should see that the future parliamentary atmosphere is taking shape.

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-11-23

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-17T19:46:57.473Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.