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Some media put emphasis on low turnout in Hong Kong

By Zhang Zhouxiang | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-12-20 11:07
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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor votes at Raimondi College, Central, during the Legislative Council election in the morning of Dec 19, 2021. [Photo by CALVIN NG/CHINA DAILY]

"Only 1,350,680 of the 4,472,863 registered voters cast their votes," said a report in the Guardian about the Hong Kong special administrative region LegCo election on Sunday.

Canada-based Globe and Mail also stressed that turnout for the directly elected seats was the lowest since 1997, with "less than 30 percent" of the registered voters casting a vote by 9:30 pm.

For comparison, the turnout for New York's mayoral race on Nov 2 was 24 percent, while that for French regional elections in June was 33 percent. But they would not tell readers that the Hong Kong people had already got an election committee by voting in September, which represents their popular will. The turnout for this representative institution on Sunday was over 98 percent.

When it comes to China, some Western media outlets resort to the old trick of picking numbers to badmouth China.

Elections are not, and should never be, a game of numbers. It is about how to get the group of public servants that serve the people best, and on that aspect the LegCo election on Sunday can proudly say it has achieved what the people expected.

A glimpse of the 40 newly elected LegCo members will find they have unprecedentedly diverse backgrounds. In terms of political experiences, there are both former LegCo members and political first-timers; in terms of occupation, there are businesspersons, political elites, as well as prominent members from education, health, law and other occupations.

Thus it is fair to say the new session of LegCo has a wide political spectrum, not "one color for all" as some Western media say. Under the principle of "Patriots administering Hong Kong", LegCo has rallied the biggest consensus possible from all aspects of society to serve the Hong Kong people.

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