Hong Kong's low voter turnout signals a backslide
Local democracy in Hong Kong has been under scrutiny since 1997, when Britain returned this erstwhile colony to China on the latter’s pledge of letting freely elected leaders govern it. In this context, a voter turnout of just 27.5% in Hong Kong’s district elections, down from 71% in 2019, signals a backslide.
It may even have dismayed Beijing, which had actively sought a better showing, perhaps as an endorsement of their policies vis-a-vis the city. Champions of autonomy had swept the 2019 polls.
The big difference this time is that every politician on the ballot had to qualify as a patriot, defined loosely to Beijing’s arbitrary convenience. This broadly explains the low voting ratio.
Global advocates of democracy, however, should resist any temptation to draw parallels with past low turnouts in India’s former state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), given how a grim shadow of terror has long loomed over its polling booths. Equally, now that the Judiciary has affirmed J&K as an integral part of India, New Delhi must not only restore its statehood and popular representation (via elections), but also dedicate itself to fostering conditions that would get more and more people casting votes.
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