After months of political protests and simmering unrest, Hong Kong legislators have failed to approve a China-backed proposal that pro-democracy activists labeled a “sham” and a mockery of universal suffrage.
In the end, just 28 lawmakers voted against the proposals, while eight came out in favor. The result was somewhat anti-climactic, as many pro-Beijing legislators left the room as the vote happened. Lawmaker Jeffrey Lam later blamed a “communication gap,” saying the group had been waiting for an ill colleague to return to the chamber — though it later emerged the missing man had the highest record for missing votes of all legislative members, and his presence would not have swayed the final outcome. For the reforms to pass, at least 47 of the 70 lawmakers would have had to vote in favor, and 34 members did not cast a ballot.
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The reforms would have seen voting in the 2017 Chief Executive election opened to all eligible Hong Kongers, but they would have had to make their choice from a selection of candidates pre-approved by Beijing.
China promised the people of Hong Kong a transition to universal suffrage after the UK handed control of the island back to Beijing in 1997. But Hong Kong voters can currently only directly elect 35 of the 70 members of the Legislative Council.
Current Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said that he was “disappointed” with the outcome of the vote, and indicated that during his remaining time in office the government would not attempt to address democratic development.
“It is time to move on,” he told reporters. “For the next two years the government will focus the efforts on the various economic development and livelihood issues.”
Meanwhile, pro-democracy campaigner Wilson Leung told VICE News that while the result itself was “pretty much expected… the way the pro-establishment camp voted was a complete surprise.”
“It’s not really a victory as such for the democracy movement, since we are still deprived of universal suffrage under the status quo,” he added, “but at least it was not a step backward into a sham election. Going forward, I expect that the democracy movement will keep putting pressure on the government to fulfil its constitutional duty of delivering true universal suffrage. One upcoming battleground will be the District Council elections later this year, and the Legislative Council elections next year.”
Related: Hong Kong Braces for Fresh Protests as Electoral Reform Vote Looms
Thursday’s result means that the 2017 Chief Executive elections will likely proceed without any conception of universal suffrage. Under the current system, only around 1,200 people, who are members of the Election Committee, are allowed a vote.
Leung said that’s something he feels “extremely sad” about. “Thirty years after limited direct elections were introduced, and 18 years after the handover, we are still far from getting the universal suffrage that was promised to us, and that is enjoyed by most other developed countries in the world. But I see that as largely the fault of the Beijing and Hong Kong government, for putting forward an election proposal that was so restrictive that no one could sensibly dress it up as democratic.”
Watch the VICE News documentary, Hong Kong Silenced.
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Hong Kong hit global headlines last fall — first with Occupy Central, which saw groups of students and protesters camping in three regions around the city, and secondly with the Umbrella Movement, where activists raised yellow umbrellas as a symbol of their fight for democracy.
In January, the Hong Kong leadership submitted a report to Beijing documenting the “political situation” in the special administrative region, which concluded by saying that the Hong Kong government “understands that constitutional development is an extremely controversial issue.”
Pro-democracy protesters told VICE News that while the demonstrations to date have been mostly peaceful there are still concerns about future violence between marginal groups of demonstrators and the local police and army. China has around 6,000 soldiers stationed in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s development adds to the confusion surrounding Hong Kong’s relationship with China — currently defined by the “one country, two systems” policy. A poll released in November showed that only 8.9 percent of Hong Kong dwellers said that they identify as Chinese, the lowest number ever recorded.
The next big pro-democracy protest is expected to be on July 1, when an annual march will mark the anniversary of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China.
Follow Sally Hayden on Twitter: @sallyhayd
