The general election of the Legislative Council will be held on Sunday (19th).
With the reduction of directly elected seats under the new system and the absence of mainstream democrats, the election atmosphere is not as hot as before.
But even so, in the two weeks approaching the election, as candidates canvassed for votes and participated in election forums, we can see that there is still a little spark in the election.
The most striking thing is that Zhou Haoding of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Northwest New Territories accused Tian Beichen of the actual political round table as a "two or five sons", criticizing the other party for "acting in the police" during the anti-revision demonstration in 2019, and then apologizing to Tian Beichen.
In the east of Hong Kong Island, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, Liang Xi, who mistakenly called "winning the Sai Wan Ho subway station", became popular. Together with Wu Qiubei of the Federation of Trade Unions and the New Democratic Party Liao Tiancheng, the three establishments and the Shazhong line whistleblower Pan Zhuohong competed for two. For seats, there is a strong tendency for the establishment to fight internally.
In addition to these more attractive topics, many candidates in this election are particularly concerned about the life of the grassroots and poverty in Hong Kong.
Especially since the new crown epidemic, the predicament of social weakness has been prominent. Hong Kong has a gorgeous appearance but there are serious social and economic injustices.
Recently announced that the number of poor people in 2020 will increase sharply to 1.65 million, that is, about one in four Hong Kong people earns less than half of the median.
In addition, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, clearly stated in the middle of the year that Hong Kong "says goodbye to subdivided housing," and solving the poverty problem can be described as the general political direction.
Zhao Shihao, a candidate from the construction sector, Wu Jiezhuang, a candidate from the election committee sector, etc. have visited the sub-householders. Also, Cai Yongqiang of the Federation of Trade Unions, who is competing for the election committee sector, also claims that as a bus captain, he knows the difficulties of the grassroots. , Can reflect the most close to the sound.
Public interest outside of political stance
In the past, Hong Kong’s election issues have always been dominated by political stances, such as whether to fight for universal suffrage, attitudes towards the central government, and derived such things as "democrats", "establishment", "opposition", "royalists", etc. Label.
But in fact, in many European and American societies, election issues are often taxation and welfare policies, medical insurance, and so on.
This is not just a distinction between political and economic issues, but two completely different natures.
The former is often presented as a zero-sum game that is difficult to compromise, while the latter is about how to distribute benefits, and how to balance and make trade-offs.
Regardless of the disparity between the rich and the poor and social injustice in Hong Kong, thorough reforms need to be promoted. The political stance of the former can easily tear the society apart, while the distribution of social benefits in the latter is relatively easy to find the greatest common factor and even build consensus.
In recent years, many commentators have pointed out that the left wing of European and American societies has increasingly abandoned its previous mission of vocalizing for the grassroots and promoting class justice, and has gradually fallen into identity politics, such as exalting racial identity and gender identity.
This kind of issue is not unimportant, but in terms of promoting social reforms, distributing benefits, and even social development, the loss of focus has not only brought about social tearing, but has also caused years of debate over vain arguments.
The general election of the Legislative Council will be held soon, and a new group of members will begin their terms on January 1.
No matter who is elected, they must re-anchor the politics of Hong Kong and return the focus to solving social problems and improving the lives of citizens, and then build consensus and rebuild Hong Kong's unity.
For the list of candidates from all sectors in the Legislative Council election,
please click here to refer to the "Hong Kong 01" election website
.
Legislative Council Election｜The Northern Metropolis is a touchstone for candidates