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by Causes | 11.25.19

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What’s the story?

Hong Kong voters went to the polls in record numbers over the weekend to vote in the normally low-profile local council elections, with pro-democracy candidates securing control in 17 of the city’s 18 districts in a sweeping rejection of pro-Beijing establishment candidates.

Pro-democracy candidates won 76.8% of council seats (347 seats), compared to 13.3% (60 seats) for pro-Beijing candidates, and 10% (45 seats) for independent candidates. Overall turnout was unprecedented for a Hong Kong election, totaling 2.94 million voters ― 71.2% of the city’s eligible voters and more than double the 2015 turnout of 1.4 million.

The district council has deals with issues like bus routes and garbage collection, but also gets to select 117 councilors to sit on a 1,200-member committee that picks Hong Kong’s chief executive subject to the Chinese government’s approval (a process that will next occur in 2022).

Pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who appoints an additional 102 members to the council, has been critical of pro-democracy protesters and the months of unrest in Hong Kong, but said she will respect the election results. She released a statement Monday saying the government will “listen to the opinions of members of the public humbly and seriously reflect” on “people’s dissatisfaction with the current situation and the deep-seated problems in society.”

Last week, Congress passed the Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act with nearly-unanimous veto-proof majorities. The bill would require the U.S. government to annually certify that there are free and open elections in Hong Kong and sanction Chinese officials for violations of Hong Kong’s autonomy.

President Donald Trump refused to say whether he would veto the bill amid trade tensions with China. Given that Congress would override the veto, the president may allow the bill to become law after 10 days by declining to sign or veto it in that period.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Studio Incendo via Flickr / Creative Commons)

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My Hispanic partner of 15 years and I left California forever in 2018 and settled down in rural Indiana (yeah, the middle of Trump country, but the trade-off for making my home here is in the peace and beauty of the land). LGBT friendly, I believe in the goodness of people even when it can’t be readily seen; I’m a common sense gun owner with two handguns in the house and a prayer that I never have to use either. Classing myself as a progressive liberal, my awakening and introduction to the America of today came while walking home from 2nd grade on November 22, 1963 as I watched traffic stopped, car radios on, and drivers, passengers and pedestrians crying in their cars and in the streets. I have voted in each and every election since I was able to vote. I fault our founders for a failure to specify that public service in an elected capacity should be a privilege rather than a career and I fault a partisan Supreme Court for bringing unlimited private funding into our elections. Through all of my parents’ differing political and other opinions, the one thing that stands out in my memory of growing up... Mom and Dad disagreed often, however I never once heard them fight or argue.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"bradford","issue_count":13,"is_following":null,"influence_score":1380,"influence_level":30,"follower_count":49,"following_count":89,"position_count":41,"id":"jZB7ybYm","partner_id":null},{"name":"Joanne ","vote_count":362,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/zm8wROXZ/large_zm8wroxz-1583291005.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/zm8wROXZ/small_zm8wroxz-1583291005.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/zm8wROXZ/tiny_zm8wroxz-1583291005.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/zm8wROXZ/following","followers":"/api/users/zm8wROXZ/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":2700,"influence_level":30,"follower_count":106,"following_count":13,"position_count":274,"id":"zm8wROXZ","partner_id":"efa417af-11b4-4a08-9b10-fff245626400"},{"name":"jimK","vote_count":569,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/large_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/small_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/tiny_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/following","followers":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/followers"},"about_me":"Retired, Politically Independent. Won’t listen to slogans, chanted mantras or generally any kind of marketing spin or “rebranding” crap. I firmly believe that everyone else is entitled to their erroneous opinions. Citizen vigilance and due diligence is price we must pay to live in a thriving, functional democracy.\nI fear that our citizens are too easily swayed by politician’s pablum about “babies”, “jobs” and now, in particular, perceived “enemies”. I fear that a citizenry focused on the “here-and-now” is easily tricked by short term benefits that have negative long-term consequences. I fear that our legislators are more concerned about buffing their constituents than looking out for the long-term welfare of our country- and are way too eager to provide those short-term benefits to the “here-and-now” crowd.\nI fear that honor is generally being sacrificed/replaced by expediency. I hear politicians eloquently argue for one side of an issue and later, when it’s to their benefit, just as eloquently argue for the opposite side. OK, so they are good at arguing- but what is that they actually believe? What is it that they actually stand for? An honorable person has values that persist even when it is not convenient or expedient. An honorable person has a moral compass that stops them from doing something wrong even if it is not illegal. A foul is a foul- even if the referee doesn’t catch you.\nI fear that each of our federal governmental branches have devised or discovered shortcuts which tend to protect them from the checks and balances our founders intended.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"jimk","issue_count":4,"is_following":null,"influence_score":48240,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":1632,"following_count":88,"position_count":566,"id":"9odrQBnb","partner_id":null}],"article_comment":{"flagged":false,"id":1119869,"body":"When your freedoms are taken away you may be too late to get them back without fighting for them like we are seeing in Hong Kong now. 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