The voter turnout rate for direct elections in the Legislative Council elections was only 30.2%, which was the lowest since 1997, a sharp drop from the previous 43.57% to 58.28%.
The rate of invalid votes reached 2.04%, a record high.
Wang Zhenmin, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Studies Center of Tsinghua University, wrote in the People's Daily that "voter rate is a game of Western democracy" and cited local elections in many cities in the United States as an example, saying that low voter turnout is a common international phenomenon in recent years.
Wang Zhenmin wrote that the voter turnout rate in US local elections is low.
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Quoting U.S. local elections as saying that low turnout is a common phenomenon
Wang Zhenmin and Li Zhenghui wrote a titled "Observation of Voter Turnout Rates in Some Western Countries". Taking the United States as an example, they pointed out that the decline in voter turnout has become a common international phenomenon.
For example, in the New York City local elections in 2021, the voter turnout rate was 24%, and in 2017 it was 21.7%.
The voter turnout in the 2017 Los Angeles mayoral election was 20.1%, in 2013 it was 23%, and in 2009 it was 17.9%.
The 2019 Chicago Mayor election turnout rate was 32.8%.
The article pointed out that the low voter turnout rate in many western elections is due to the lack of partisan competition and the closeness of views among candidates, which makes it difficult to motivate voters to vote.
It is said that voters who do not vote agree that voters will choose representatives on their behalf
The article stated that low-turnout elections do not necessarily lack expressiveness. Instead, attention should be paid to the composition of the turnout rate, not the size of the voters. It also points out that non-voting is also an option. Of voters choose government leaders and representatives on their behalf."
The article quoted an unnamed "scholar" as saying that voters who do not contribute to the electoral function should not be promoted in order to increase the turnout rate.
"For those who usually do not vote or have no tendency to vote, they may vote simply because they are forced to vote and have nothing to do with the realization of the election function. In this case, the low turnout rate is not a bad thing."
On December 19, the voter turnout rate in the Legislative Council election was only 30.2%, a sharp drop from the previous 43.57% to 58.28%.
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The article takes the 66.8% voter turnout rate in the 2020 US general election as an example. It refers to a country or region that encounters major challenges and faces difficult choices before a record high voter turnout rate.
The article pointed out that when society develops steadily and voters have better expectations for the future, the low turnout rate indicates that voters are basically satisfied with the government's governance and the status quo.
At the end of the article, it pointed out that during the British colonial rule, the scope of voting rights was very narrow. It pointed out that the total number of voters in the 1981 Municipal Council election was only more than 6,100, and the representativeness was very limited. It also pointed out that in the 1990s, Hong Kong’s electoral system has not been governed by Hong Kong’s native politics. Determined by strength.
The article stated that the British introduced and expanded Hong Kong elections at the end of colonial rule, "the purpose is to hinder the restoration of sovereignty over Hong Kong and effective governance, and to continue British political influence."
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