 |
| A woman (centre L) uses her phone while waiting to vote during primary elections in Hong Kong on July 12, 2020.(Photo by=CNN) |
[아시아뉴스통신=레악카나 기자] Braving scorching conditions, a new wave of coronavirus infections and government warnings they could be breaking the law, about 600,000 of Hong Kongers took part in a primary election for the city's democratic opposition over the weekend.
The vote, held 10 days after China imposed a sweeping new security law on the city, was designed to narrow down the number of pro-democracy candidates in September elections to the city's legislature. The opposition camp is hoping to seize a historic majority in the parliament, through careful coordination to avoid splitting the pro-democracy vote, and in making headway in the functional constituencies, seats chosen by business and professional groups which form half of the legislature.
Erick Tsang, Hong Kong's Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, said on Friday that the primaries might violate Hong Kong's new national security law because of the candidates' political stance, according to Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK. This would be a hard task at the best of times, and the government has already hinted that it may bar potentially dozens of candidates from those elections under the new security law, which criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces.
