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Willa Wu

Hong Kong lawmakers have expressed concerns about a 52 per cent jump in spending for the coming Legislative Council election compared with four years ago, questioning whether the additional resources spent will lead to higher voter turnout.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai defended the increased costs on Wednesday, saying election promotional efforts were “of key importance”, even as he stressed that no turnout target had been set as it depended on “many different factors”.
Tsang and lawmakers discussed the government’s plan to spend HK$1.28 billion (US$165 million) on the December 7 election, set to be the second under a “patriots-only” electoral overhaul.
The planned budget represents a 52 per cent surge from the HK$841 million spent on the 2021 election, which had a turnout of only 30.2 per cent – the lowest since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.
In a paper submitted to the Legco finance committee on Monday, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said the increase would be mainly spent on election promotion and technological appliances.
Authorities would allocate HK$177 million for election promotion, HK$814 million for technological appliances and voting venues’ rents, and HK$289 million to pay the possible 37,000 personnel, according to the paper.
“But has the government set any turnout rate goal for the coming election?” said lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen during a finance committee meeting.
He pointed to the 2023 district council election’s low turnout despite an extensive citywide promotion campaign.

The district council election on December 10, 2023 – the first after the major electoral reform – logged a record-low turnout rate of 27.59 per cent after the local administration spent HK$1.218 billion on organising it, including HK$122 million for promotion.
“Judging from the turnout rate, the promotion yielded an unsatisfactory result. Does the government know any reasons behind it, and what will the government do to improve the turnout this time?” Tik said.
Constitutional affairs chief Tsang responded that authorities had set no “rigid target” in the turnout rate.
“We have stressed on various occasions that the voter turnout is affected by many different factors. So we do not have any rigid target that we can call a satisfactory [figure] and should aim for,” he told lawmakers.
“But of course the government will continue to vigorously promote the improved electoral system to let more residents understand the importance of the elections in a bid to encourage more to come out and vote.”
The minister also pointed out that Hong Kong enjoyed a relatively high voter turnout compared with other developed economies, but he did not cite specific examples.
Another lawmaker Lam Chun-sing questioned the need to increase the promotion spending, pointing to the HK$47 million the government was estimated to have spent to market the 2021 Legco election.
The total cost for the 2021 Legco election went up to HK$1.068 billion, including HK$100 million for publicity.
“It is understandable to increase the promotion spending for the first election after the reforms since there are more new things to be promoted. But why the increase this time, considering it will be the second one?” Lam said.
The lawmaker also suggested that rather than merely focusing on promoting each election, the government should incorporate more election-related content into schools to have a longer-term impact on the turnout rate.
But Tsang insisted that authorities’ experience of organising both the Legco and district council elections in previous years showed that promotion was “of key importance”.
“We also found out that promoting during the election period would have the best impact as the whole society will be exposed to more focused information, thus helping people get a full and clear picture of the election,” he said.
The coming Legco election will see hopefuls compete for the 90 seats, with 40 reserved for the Election Committee constituency packed with Beijing loyalists, 30 for trade-based functional constituencies and 20 for geographical constituencies.


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Constitutional affairs chief Erick Tsang defends additional resources while lawmakers question whether they will guarantee high voter turnout


Constitutional affairs chief Erick Tsang defends additional resources while lawmakers question whether they will guarantee high voter turnout.


Hong Kong lawmakers concerned over 52% rise in spending for coming Legco election

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Constitutional affairs chief Erick Tsang defends additional resources while lawmakers question whether they will guarantee high voter turnout

Constitutional affairs chief Erick Tsang defends additional resources while lawmakers question whether they will guarantee high voter turnout