HONG KONG—Voter turnout plunged below 30 percent in Hong Kong’s first district council elections since new rules introduced under Beijing’s guidance effectively shut out all pro-democracy candidates, setting a record low since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
According to official data on Monday, 27.5 percent of the city’s 4.3 million registered voters cast ballots in Sunday’s polls—significantly less than the record 71.2 percent who participated in the last elections held at the height of pro-democracy protests in 2019. The pro-democracy camp won those polls in a landslide victory, in a clear rebuke of the government’s handling of the protests.
