Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens have queued to cast ballots over the weekend in what the Chinese-ruled city’s opposition camp says is a symbolic protest vote against tough national security laws directly imposed by Beijing.
The unofficial poll will decide the strongest pro-democracy candidates to contest Legislative Council elections in September, when they aim to ride a wave of anti-China sentiment stirred by the law to seize control for the first time from pro-Beijing rivals.
While the primaries are only for the opposition camp, observers are watching closely as they say the turnout will serve as a test of a broader opposition to the law, which critics say will gravely undermine the city’s freedoms.
“A high turnout will send a very strong signal to the international community, that we Hong Kongers never give up,” said Sunny Cheung, 24, one of a batch of aspiring young democrats out lobbying and giving stump speeches.
“And that we still stand with the democratic camp, we still support democracy and freedom.”
Defying warnings from a senior Hong Kong official that the vote might fall foul of the national security law, residents young and old flocked to more than 250 polling stations across the city, manned by thousands of volunteers.
Source: aljazeera.com
The post Hong Kong: 500,000 cast ‘protest’ vote against new security law appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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