Sun Nov 22, 2015 7:51AM
People pass campaign posters of candidates for district-level elections in Hong Kong, China, November 22, 2015. ©Reuters
People in Hong Kong are voting in district-level elections for the first time since mass pro-democracy protests gripped the special administrative region of China.
Polling stations opened at 7.30 a.m. local time on Sunday (2330 GMT on Saturday) and will close at 10.30 p.m. local time on Sunday (1430 GMT).
A total of 495 ordinary polling stations as well as 24 dedicated ones are open across Hong Kong for some 3.12 million voters.
Over 900 candidates are competing for 431 seats in the city’s 18 district councils, where pro-Beijing parties currently hold a majority.
A recent poll by the University of Hong Kong showed that the turnout in Sunday’s polls will be more than the 41.5 percent recorded during the 2011 election.
Hong Kong, whose leadership returned to China after about a century of British colonial rule in 1997, was roiled by 79 days of street demonstrations and occupations late last year.
Protesters holding yellow umbrellas gather to observe a moment of silence to mark the first anniversary of “Umbrella Movement” outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong, China, September 28, 2015. ©AP
The Umbrella Movement was created during the 2014 protests that erupted after the Chinese government introduced an election law, under which the people of Hong Kong will have to elect their next leader from a list of Beijing-vetted candidates in 2017.
Kris Fong, a 28-year-old administrator who was voting in Hon Kong’s northern district of Yuen Long, said, “After last year’s umbrella revolution I feel that, however insignificant our vote might be, it’s our only legitimate way to tell the people... up north what we are thinking,” referring to powers in Beijing.
Pro-Beijing candidates, who are casting themselves as a force for stability, blame pro-democracy campaigners for disrupting life in the financial hub.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/11/22/438667/Hong-Kong-China-Beijing-Districtlevel-polls-
