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Police officers guard a polling station
Photo: Vincent Yu / AP
With an extremely low turnout in the controversial parliamentary election, the people of Hong Kong have taken a stand against China's restriction of democracy.
One hour before the polls closed on Sunday at 10.30 p.m. local time, the turnout was just 29 percent.
Around 1.3 million Hong Kong people cast their votes.
In the election five years ago, the turnout was 58.3 percent.
The official final result is expected on Monday.
In many cases it was already expected that many people would stay away from the election because after Beijing's crackdown they had given up all hope of democratic changes in the British ex-colony.
A controversial security law was passed in Hong Kong a year and a half ago under pressure from the capital.
It led to the mass protests for more democracy suddenly coming to an end.
Many civil rights activists, protest leaders and politicians ended up in jail.
Others went abroad to avoid persecution.
The Legislative Council, as the Hong Kong parliament is called, was not freely elected in the past either.
But in the election on Sunday there were restrictions like never before: According to the new rules, for the first time only "patriots" were allowed to run.
The parliament will be enlarged from 70 to 90 seats - but only 20 instead of the previous 35 members will be directly elected.
Most seats are pre-reserved for representatives of Beijing-friendly interest groups.
Democratic parties without their own candidates
The city's largest pro-democracy parties had not nominated candidates.
The authorities also issued arrest warrants against activists in exile who had called for a boycott of the elections or for the casting of invalid ballots.
Dozens of prominent members of the opposition - including many who won seats in parliament in the last elections - were arrested for violating the so-called National Security Act, excluded from the election or fled abroad.
Even before the election, Hong Kong Prime Minister Carrie Lam rejected the impression that Hong Kong people with a low turnout wanted to express criticism of the government.
Lam argued, however, that a lack of interest in the election shows that citizens have no desire for change.
Despite the threat of fines, three activists demonstrated on Sunday at the polling station run by Lam, the head of government loyal to Beijing.
When Lam arrived at her polling station, the protesters from the pro-democracy party League of Social Democrats chanted, "I want real universal suffrage".
Independent polls put Lam's approval rating at around 36 percent.
"One country, one system"
Since July 1, 1997, the former British crown colony has belonged to China again.
Actually, it should be governed independently according to the principle of "one country, two systems".
At that time, the seven million Hong Kong residents also received a promise to enjoy a "high degree of autonomy" and many political freedoms until 2047.
Since the Security Act was passed, many have only spoken of "one country, one system".
sol / dpa / AFP / Reuters
