HONG KONG: Turnout is expected to be low for Hong Kong’s “patriots only” legislative election on Sunday, with subdued political campaigning as the population reels from the city’s deadliest blaze in decades that has killed 159 people so far.
Volunteers tentatively handed out flyers and hung banners outside subway stations and crowded intersections on Friday, but they were largely ignored by residents. Campaigning activities were suspended for a few days following last week’s fire.
“This accident, of course, can influence the attendance of the election ... (Hong Kongers) don’t have the interest, the eagerness to elect people,” said C.K. Lau, an 82-year-old retiree.
The vote has been viewed by some analysts as a test of legitimacy for the Hong Kong government as it tries to soothe public anger over the fire and oversee an ongoing national security crackdown.
Locals said they were angry and traumatized after authorities admitted that substandard building materials used during renovation work at the high-rise estate in northern Tai Po district were responsible for fueling the blaze.
“Everyone’s mood is so heavy right now,” said May Li, 48. “How can we still talk about holding an election under these circumstances? It definitely has to be postponed.”
The last Legislative Council elections in 2021 recorded the lowest voter turnout — 30.2 percent — since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
On Thursday, Hong Kong’s national security office urged residents to “actively participate in voting,” saying it is critical in supporting government post-disaster reconstruction efforts.
“Every voter is a stakeholder in the homeland of Hong Kong,” a statement said. “If you truly love Hong Kong, you will vote sincerely.”
Four people were arrested for inciting others not to vote, the city’s anti-corruption body said on Thursday. A further three were arrested for the same offense on November 20, according to a previous statement from the body.
National security authorities have also repeatedly warned against attempts to “exploit” the fire to incite another “color revolution,” referring to the 2019 pro-democracy protests that roiled the city.
Publicly inciting a vote boycott was criminalized in 2021 as part of sweeping electoral reforms that effectively squeezed out pro-democracy voices from the city’s 90-seat legislature.
Coming after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in 2020, the reforms ensured that only pro-Beijing candidates — “patriots” — could run and further reduced the space for meaningful democratic participation by Hong Kong residents, analysts say.
Pan-democrat voters — who traditionally made up about 60 percent of Hong Kong’s electorate — have since shunned the elections.
The number of registered voters for Sunday’s polls — 4.13 million — has also dropped for the fourth consecutive year since 2021, when a peak of 4.47 million people were registered.
The current term of the Legislative Council ends on December 31. If the election were delayed, a vacuum period could emerge, making it difficult to maintain a functional lawmaking body.
Hong Kong faces low election turnout as residents mourn deadly fire
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Hong Kong faces low election turnout as residents mourn deadly fire
- Locals said they were angry and traumatized after authorities admitted that substandard building materials used during renovation work at the high-rise estate in northern Tai Po district were responsible for fueling the blaze
Shooter kills 9 at Canadian school and residence
- The shooter was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound
- A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries
TORONTO: A shooter killed nine people and wounded dozens more at a secondary school and a residence in a remote part of western Canada on Tuesday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country’s history.
The suspect, described by police in an initial emergency alert as a “female in a dress with brown hair,” was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
The attack occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a picturesque mountain valley town in the foothills of the Rockies.
A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “devastated” by the “horrific acts of violence” and announced he was suspending plans to travel to the Munich Security Conference on Wednesday, where he had been set to hold talks with allies on transatlantic defense readiness.
Police said an alert was issued about an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday afternoon.
As police searched the school, they found six people shot dead. A seventh person with a gunshot wound died en route to hospital.
Separately, police found two more bodies at a residence in the town.
The residence is “believed to be connected to the incident,” police said.
At the school, “an individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self?inflicted injury,” police said.
Police have not yet released any information about the age of the shooter or the victims.
“We are devastated by the loss of life and the profound impact this tragedy has had on families, students, staff, and our entire town,” the municipality of Tumbler Ridge said in a statement.
Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist told public broadcaster CBC that he was in his mechanics class when there was an announcement that the school was in lockdown.
He said that initially he “didn’t think anything was going on,” but started receiving “disturbing” photos about the carnage.
“It set in what was happening,” Quist said.
He said he stayed in lockdown for more than two hours until police stormed in, ordering everyone to put their hands up before escorting them out of the school.
Trent Ernst, a local journalist and a former substitute teacher at Tumbler Ridge, expressed shock over the shooting at the school, where one of his children has just graduated.
He noted that school shootings have been a rarity occurring every few years in Canada compared with the United States, where they are far more frequent.
“I used to kind of go: ‘Look at Canada, look at who we are.’ But then that one school shooting every 2.5 years happens in your town and things... just go off the rails,” he told AFP.
‘Heartbreak’
While mass shootings are extremely rare in Canada, last April, a vehicle attack that targeted a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver killed 11 people.
British Columbia Premier David Eby called the latest violence “unimaginable.”
Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s minister of public safety, said it was “one of the worst mass shootings in our province’s and country’s history.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee, whose athletes are competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, said Wednesday it was “heartbroken by the news of the horrific school shooting.”
Ken Floyd, commander of the police’s northern district, said: “This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community, and we are grateful for the cooperation shown as officers continue their work to advance the investigation.”
Floyd told reporters the shooter was the same suspect police described as “female” in a prior emergency alert to community members, but declined to provide any details on the suspect’s identity.
The police said officers were searching other homes and properties in the community to see if there were additional sites connected to the incident.
Tumbler Ridge, a quiet town with roughly 2,400 residents, is more than 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia’s largest city.
“There are no words sufficient for the heartbreak our community is experiencing tonight,” the municipality said.
