Lam hopes HKers continue expressing views in peace

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor voiced her hope on Monday that the people of Hong Kong can continue to express their views in a peaceful manner, after the city's District Council election closed a day before.

The election, which saw a record turnout rate of about 71.2 percent, was the first city-wide election since the Extradition Bill Incident erupted in June. The social unrest involved stunning violence and vandalism.

A total of about 2.94 million registered electors cast their votes in the community-level affairs election on Sunday.

In the election, the pro-establishment camp won 59 seats while the rival netted 385 seats – a landslide defeat as they held over 300 seats in the last election four years ago.

The district poll had been conducted in very difficult circumstances due to the social incidents over the past few months, Lam said.

She thanked the voters for their active participation. It showed that voters hoped to express their views through this election.

The election was held in a generally peaceful, safe and orderly manner, Lam said in a statement.

She said she firmly believed that the vast majority of the public shares her wish for peace and order to continue after five months of unrest in the city.

In the past months, radical protesters resorted to extreme vandalism, and attacked police officers and ordinary people with different views. They even disrupted pro-establishment camp candidates with violence during election campaigns.

Listen to views

Moreover, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will humbly and seriously listen to the views of the public.

The government respects the election results, she said. There are various analyses and interpretations that showed the result reflected people's dissatisfaction with the current situation and deep-seated problems in society, Lam said.

"The HKSAR government will listen to the opinions of members of the public humbly and seriously reflect," Lam said.

Some in society worried that the opposition camp would play up political stunts in the District Councils and destabilize the city's development.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang stressed at a regular news conference that stopping violence is still the city's top priority.

"The most pressing task in Hong Kong is to stop violence and restore order," Geng said.

The spokesman reaffirmed that the Chinese government is determined to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, implement the "one country, two systems" policy, and oppose any foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs.

Also on Monday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that any attempt to disrupt and damage Hong Kong's stability and prosperity will be in vain.

No matter how the situation in Hong Kong unfolds, it is clear that Hong Kong is a part of China's territory and a SAR of the country, Wang said during his visit to Japan.

'Protest vote' will hurt

Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said most voters, affected by the protracted social unrest, this time were driven by the political turmoil and failed to discharge their duties in bringing benefits to the community.

The election result showed many voters made the choice only based on candidates' political backgrounds, instead of their capacity of serving the community, Lau said. This time, many pro-establishment candidates, despite rich experience participating in community work, were defeated by some political green hands parachuting in from the opposition camp.

He cautioned that such "protest vote" tactics may finally hurt the benefits of voters, as some winning candidates, with little expertise and experience in community works, may fail to identify and serve the neighborhoods' needs.