Hong Kong vote could boost pro-democracy campaign

Voters in Hong Kong today turned out in large numbers for a legislative election, many venting anger at their leaders and hoping to hand pro-democracy opposition politicians unprecedented clout in the Chinese territory.

The campaign had been marred by scandal and alleged intimidation, and many people were clearly frustrated at Beijing’s recent decision ruling out full democracy in the near term.

Voting was brisk throughout the day, leading to shortages of ballot boxes at some polling stations.

At one stage, the turnout for directly elected seats had hit 38.36%. Constitutional Affairs Secretary Stephen Lam said the voter numbers would exceed the 43.75% recorded in the last legislative election in 2000.

Pro-democracy opposition candidates, viewed as troublemakers or even “traitors” by China, were projected to gain the most votes but fall short of a majority in the Legislative Council under a system critics say is rigged.

Half of the 60 seats were directly elected, with 3.2 million people eligible to vote, while the other half were picked by less than 200,000 members of special interest groups such as business, law and accounting that tend to back Beijing.

Final results were expected sometime tomorrow morning.

Analysts predicted pro-democracy politicians could claim 25 to 28 seats - compared with 22 in the current legislature – which could further weaken the unpopular government of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa by making it harder for Tung to get his bills passed.

Beijing’s authoritarian leadership has been worried about the outcome of Hong Kong’s greatest-ever exercise of democracy, seven years after Britain returned the former colony to its motherland.

Critics claim China or local allies orchestrated a dirty tricks campaign against the opposition.

Ordinary voters got to directly pick 30 of Hong Kong’s lawmakers, up from 24 last time, but critics complained the special interest votes carried far too much weight. Eleven such seats were filled without competition.

Tung voted early, and as usual was heckled by protesters. One of them - veteran anti-establishment activist ”Longhair” Leung Kwok-hung – was also on the ballot, apparently with a decent shot at victory.

Pro-Beijing politicians sought to knock out Hong Kong’s best-known opposition figure, Democratic Party lawmaker Martin Lee.

The Democrats were hurt by money and sex scandals embroiling two candidates, one of whom remains locked up in mainland China for allegedly consorting with a prostitute.

The political atmosphere has been highly charged since 500,000 people marched on July 1, 2003 – the sixth anniversary of the former British colony’s handover - to protest an anti-subversion bill viewed as a threat to freedoms.

Tung withdrew it, but hundreds of thousands marched again this July to demand universal suffrage.

Beijing stirred public outrage in April by ruling that Hong Kong people cannot directly choose their next leader in 2007 or all lawmakers in 2008. Critics said Hong Kong was losing the considerable autonomy that was promised at the handover.