Voting Starts In Pan-democrat Primaries Across SAR

Polling for the pro-democracy camp's primaries began at 250 voting stations across Hong Kong on Saturday, after the exercise was delayed by three hours.

The camp said final preparations were disrupted late on Friday by a police raid on a polling institute involved in the exercise.

Officers entered the office of the Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) to investigate a complaint regarding the leak of police officers' information, saying the centre's computers might have been hacked.

PORI's deputy chief executive officer, Chung Kim-wah, later confirmed that police had not seized the institute's computers but had taken away some data for investigation.

The body helped design the voting system for the pro-democracy camp's primary elections for the upcoming Legco polls.

One of the organisers of the primaries, law professor Benny Tai, said he's confident about the turnout.

"From past experience we know that when there is more oppression from the government, Hong Kong people will stand even firmer in fighting back," Tai said.

He said that when the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Erick Tsang, suggested that the primary elections might breach the national security law, and when the police raided the PORI, public support had increased in response.

One woman who voted at a Mong Kok polling station told RTHK that she was very unhappy with the police raid, which changed her mind on whether to vote in the primaries.

“I did hesitate whether I should vote [in the primaries]. But after I heard about the suppression, it made me want to come out to do my part… I think Hong Kongers ought to be a bit concerned these days. But we should fight on, for our freedom of expression and to vote. This is what was promised to us under the Basic Law.”

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, for his part, called on the world to monitor the polls.

"The primary election is our first time to let Beijing know Hong Kongers never bow down to China," Wong said, speaking ahead of the opening of polling booths at 12pm. "We urge the world to put Hong Kong under the global spotlight."

The election seeks to bolster the chance for democracy candidates to achieve a 35-plus majority in the 70-seat legislature in polls on September 6, potentially giving them power to block government proposals.

Hong Kong's opposition camp secured a landslide victory in district council elections in November, riding on support for an anti-government protest movement triggered by a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial.

Voting for the primaries will last till 9 pm on Saturday and will continue on Sunday. (RTHK, Reuters)

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