On This Day | Hongkongers vote in first post-handover district-level elections – from the SCMP archive
On this day 25 years ago, Hong Kong held its first district-level election after the city’s handover from Britain to China
This article was first published on November 28, 1999
Hopes high for big turnout
A high turnout is expected in Sunday November 28, 1999’s district council elections but more than half of the voters are undecided, according to a poll published on Saturday.
The study, conducted by the University of Hong Kong’s Social Science Research Centre this week, showed the pro-democracy camp went into the election well ahead of its rivals, but 62 per cent of voters were still unsure about which party they would support.
According to the survey, 74 per cent of people planned to vote. The figure is four per cent higher than two weeks before.
But researchers and politicians have predicted the turnout will be between 35 and 40 per cent — slightly up on the 1994 figure of 33 per cent.
On Saturday, officials were still campaigning at the various constituencies calling on people to vote.
The survey of 1,137 people taken on Wednesday and Thursday revealed that voters knew little about their community bodies, with 67 per cent saying they did not know there would be appointed seats in the new councils.
