Former Hong Kong chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang has won a decisive victory in Sunday’s Legislative Council by-election.
Mrs Chan won just under 55 per cent of the vote, with her leading rival Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee capturing almost 43 per cent.
The hotly contested by-election for Hong Kong Island drew a relatively high turnout of about 52 per cent as the two rival camps cranked their canvassing machinery into top gear to rally voters.
The results of the election supported the findings of an earlier poll carried out by the University of Hong Kong. It had interviewed 3,600 voters and predicted Mrs Chan would edge pass her pro-Beijing rival to win the election, local radio reported.
The turnout on Sunday outstripped the 33.27 per cent in the 2000 Legco Hong Kong Island by-election. But it failed to match the turnout of the 2004 Legco polls, which saw 55.64 per cent of registered voters city-wide cast ballots and 57.62 per cent on Hong Kong Island.
More than 321,000 of the 618,350 registered voters on Hong Kong Island voted during the 15-hour ballot yesterday.
The six lesser known candidates obtained a total of 7,291 votes, according to the unfinished count by the Electoral Affairs Commission. Transport unionist Stanley Chaing Chi-wai was top of the six with 3,518 votes, while Ho Loy obtained 1,593; Cecilia Ling Wai-wan received 822; Jimmy Siu See-kong 613; Lee Wing-kin 401 and Lau Yuk-shing 344.
Mrs Chan and Mrs Ip, on the other hand, had garnered 313,424 votes between themselves with Mrs Chan securing 175,874 of the votes and Mrs Ip the remaining 137,550 votes.
Pan-democrats had estimated that Mrs Chan would need a turnout of over 50 per cent to defeat Mrs Ip, who has the backing of the Beijing-friendly forces.
Speaking after early polling results put her ahead by a small margin, Mrs Chan said she would not speculate on the outcome.
“I feel very excited. I remember when I was appointed the chief secretary in 1993, I didn’t feel as excited as today,” Mrs Chan said.
She thanked her supporters and believed “the road to democracy would continue to widen”.
Mrs Ip said she was disappointed by the exit poll results, but said she had done her best and had staged a rewarding campaign.
Election observers said Mrs Ip’s support showed she had managed to secure votes from the middle of the political spectrum.
The ballot has been widely seen as a barometer of people’s democratic aspirations and the different values the two former officials stand for.
The showdown came two weeks after the pro-Beijing camp handed the pan-democrats their worst defeat in the district council election.
Political commentator Ma Ngok said the two high-profile candidates had pushed the turnout rate to a relatively high level.
Facing a close contest, the two rival camps mobilised unprecedentedly big contingents of canvassers across Hong Kong Island. Tension surged as supporters repeatedly clashed and traded verbal attacks while canvassing for votes outside strategic polling stations.
Shortly after 3pm, Mrs Ip, who had been flanked by canvassing agents from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong throughout the day, issued an emergency call in a last-ditch effort to rally supporters and undecided voters.
“My rival has long put out an emergency call and has the unfair support of a media organisation,” Mrs Ip said. She was referring to the pro-democracy Apple Daily, which published a special afternoon edition headlined “Mrs Chan at a critical state”.
In a last-minute appeal for votes, Mrs Chan said hordes of Mrs Ip’s supporters had been taken to polling stations by coach.
She said she would need every single vote to counter the so-called “cast-iron” votes of her main rival.
“It’s not about my personal glory or shame. It’s about standing up for the values we all share and wish to sustain,” she said. “Hong Kong people have demonstrated the strength of unity during the article 23 legislation saga in 2003. Please vote from your heart.”
But Mrs Ip dismissed claims that she had “iron-clad” votes. “Every candidate has to fight for every vote. There is no such thing as iron-clad votes in this world.”
She urged voters to vote for her, saying confrontation would lead Hong Kong nowhere – a veiled attack on the pan-democrats.
The winner would fill the seat vacated by the late DAB chairman Ma Lik and serve until next summer.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Affairs Commission received 490 complaints related to Sunday’s by-election, according to local radio.
Speaking after the announcement of the election results, Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission Justice Pang Kin-kee said he had found the “overall electoral arrangements satisfactory” but would look into some incidents.
He said, “The by-election was concluded successfully and I consider the counting of votes efficient.
“The commission will review the electoral arrangements and look into areas for further improvement. A report will be submitted to the Chief Executive on matters relating to the by-election within three months after the conclusion of the by-election.”
Most of the complaints were focused on election advertisements, noise and illegal canvassing allegations.
2 comments:
In fact, comparing with Ip, I support Anson Chan so much. It is because she has policial experiences in the government and well soical skills. Congratulations!
I am really happy that Anson Chan has got elected. I simply can't imagine what Hong Kong will be like if the other one got elected.
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