Post-disaster ‘election’ adds insult to injury
Wang Yong
Hong Kongers went to the polls on 7 December, still processing the continuous drip feed of shocking revelations about the deadly fire that killed at least 159 people on 26 November. It was a disaster that should never have happened. The so-called elections for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (Legco) saw less than one in three registered voters cast a vote, with a big majority choosing not to dignify the electoral farce.
This de facto boycott movement has been seen before, in the 2021 (Legco) and 2023 (district council) elections. But the mood has been hardened further by the almost unfathomable scale of the Tai Po disaster, which many blame on the CCP-backed political establishment with its boundless greed, law-breaking, corruption and complete lack of basic humanity.
It is striking that the electoral constituency with the lowest turnout was the New Territories North East constituency, which covers the Tai Po area and the now devastated Wang Fuk Court estate. Mass hatred against the establishment (pro-CCP) politicians, who are the only names on the ballot paper under a rigged system, is heightened by their role in events that led to the fire.
Authoritarian ‘elections’
The elections are a grotesque gallery of “patriots only” pro-CCP sycophants drawn from the city’s capitalist establishment. No opposition voices are permitted to stand for the Legislative Council, just as those raising pertinent urgent questions about the Tai Po fire have been threatened and silenced.
1,317,682 out of 4,131,000 registered voters went to vote in the geographic constituencies. Regime propagandists, with a huge gasp of relief, are drumming home the fact that in percentage terms the turnout at 31.9 percent was fractionally higher than in the 2021 Legislative Council election, when it was only 30.2 percent. But this is based on fewer registering to vote in 2025.
In absolute terms, the unopposed and utterly shameless pro-CCP establishment got 33,000 fewer votes this time – a record low vote. This is the result of a de facto mass boycott which is even more remarkable when we know that it is a crime under the post-2020 regime to advocate for a boycott. At least 11 people were arrested in recent days, accused of “inciting others not to vote in the Legislative Council elections” through online statements.
And this is despite the government’s desperate measures including a range of financial incentives: free museum entry, shopping discounts and concessionary cinema tickets, for example, upon proof of voting (a government “thank you for voting” card). Workers at some large corporations and government agencies could redeem this card for a paid half-day off work. What is this if not de facto vote-buying policies? The goal is not to support candidate A against candidate B, as they are all political clones of the CCP-capitalist machine. The goal is to legitimise the electoral farce and contain the level of governmental disgrace. All the stops were pulled out to achieve this end.
To boost voter turnout, voting time was extended by a full two hours for the first time (until 11.30pm). The pro-regime chairman of the Hospital Authority even donated HK$100,000 in gift vouchers for employees to enter into a lottery using their “thank you cards”. Many worried that failing to produce a card to prove they had voted might lead to repercussions. This resulted in the absurd but undoubtedly creative situation of “thank you cards” being resold online! That the vast majority could not be swayed by these election tricks and enticements shows just how compact the mass opposition to the regime is under the surface.
Mourning is no longer lawful
The paranoid authoritarian regime will not even allow the people to gather to mourn or support one another emotionally.
Hong Kong police announced that on the evening of 7 December after the voting stations closed, they would clear the park where people had spontaneously gathered to mourn the Tai Po fire and offer support to survivors. The Hong Kong authorities fear further discontent and want to close down all possible sites or channels for discontent to coalesce and combine into a collective force. This tactic is lifted directly from the “weiwen” (stability maintenance) manual of the CCP in mainland China. After the Zhengzhou floods in 2021 and the Zhuhai mass killings in 2024, the CCP ignored public grief, forcibly dispersing those who gathered and clearing away offerings of flowers.
Today, these iron heel methods have been transplanted to Hong Kong to suppress any discussions and expressions of mourning which, left unchecked, pose a threat to the money-grabbing, safety-violating capitalist establishment. The situation is unfolding exactly as we warned in our first report on the Tai Po fire: mourning has become a criminal offence!
The system’s corruption and incompetence in causing and then “handling” the disaster have further fueled public anger. It is not enough that at least 159 (possibly the real toll will exceed 200) were killed by a system of deceit, greed and lies – the system of authoritarian capitalism. The government’s focus on covering up and crushing all voices that demand an independent investigation only gives a free pass for more cheating and life-threatening corruption. The South China Morning Post carried out its own tests on samples of plastic construction netting taken from several housing estates after the government supposedly carried out rigorous checks. The samples were passed as “safe” but in the lab tests they ignited and burned quickly.
This is a government and a system that excels at performing fake safety tests, fake investigations, fake elections. New disasters for working-class people are inevitable for every day that this system continues.
The government’s shameful actions have even prompted criticism from some former pro-establishment figures. For example, writer Chris Wat Wing Yin, who has consistently praised the CCP, had the temerity to write in the Ta Kung Pao that the government “desires applause, not criticism”, resulting in the article being deleted from online publication. Similarly, Chan Ching-sum, former chairperson of the notorious pro-establishment racist group “Caring Hong Kong Power” was silenced after accusing the government of “lies and corruption” with all her posts from the past two years deleted from Facebook. These are cracks in the establishment facade that presage a huge crisis for the CCP’s rule in Hong Kong in the next period.
Hong Kong: Deadliest fire since World War II raises life-and-death questions
Hong Kong Tai Po fire: Regime unleashes full-scale crackdown as truth emerges
