Hong Kong district council election: authorities say 1.5 million posters, leaflets printed for publicity blitz, but shy away from sharing cost
- Authorities offer breakdown of promotion drive for first ‘patriots-only’ district council poll last month, which drew record-low turnout of 27.5 per cent
- Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau says ‘innovative’ efforts achieved ‘desired effect’, as lawmakers call for disclosure of total costs
More than 1.5 million posters and leaflets were printed and nearly 99,000 bunting rows were hung up in a publicity drive for Hong Kong’s revamped district council poll last month, authorities have said without revealing the total cost.
The December 10 poll was the first to be held since the government overhauled the district councils earlier last year to align with Beijing’s “patriots ruling Hong Kong” policy direction, but drew a record-low turnout of 27.54 per cent.
The revamp drastically cut the number of seats returned by the popular vote from almost 95 per cent to 19 per cent, as well as reintroducing appointed positions.
The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau on Friday also stressed the “innovative” efforts had achieved the “desired effect”, even as lawmakers called for the disclosure of the total cost of the promotion drive.
“The promotional work for this election utilised a lot of diverse and innovative methods, which were widely reported by the media,” the bureau wrote in a paper submitted to the Legislative Council.
“The ability to generate discussions was also quite pronounced and it also greatly raised society’s level of concern towards the district council election. The overall effect is ideal and it has even reached the overall goals of promoting the election.”
The paper marks the first time the government has provided a breakdown of the promotion blitz.
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