Hong Kong elects new Legislative Council with 16 fresh faces

ANKARA

The results of the Hong Kong Legislative Council elections for the Election Committee Constituency were announced early Monday, with several new faces securing seats in the 90-member legislature, state media reported.

All 90 members of the eighth-term council have now been elected. The body comprises 40 lawmakers chosen by the Election Committee, 30 by functional constituencies, and 20 by geographical constituencies through direct elections, Beijing-based Xinhua News reported.

Of the 40 Election Committee seats, all incumbent lawmakers were re-elected, alongside 16 newcomers. The top vote-getters were incumbents Perry Yiu, with 1,397 votes, and Yan Chan, who received 1,386.

The newly elected council will begin its four-year term on Jan. 1, 2026.

Some 31.9% of registered voters cast ballots in Sunday’s elections, surpassing the record-low turnout four years ago in a poll held just over a week after a deadly fire that killed 159 people in Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court.

While the turnout rate increased by 1.7 percentage points, the total number of voters fell by 33,000 compared with the 2021 elections held under Beijing’s “patriots-only” electoral overhaul.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive John Lee congratulated the newly elected members and said the “successful” conclusion of the polls reflected the government’s adherence to and respect for the constitutional order and the rule of law.

* Writing by Aamir Latif