In Hong Kong, district elections seeing unusually high turnout

Large numbers of people are heading to the polls in Hong Kong to select new district councilors, during an apparent let-up in five months of protests rocking the autonomous Chinese city.

Voter turnout in the first three hours of the voting on Sunday was reported to be nearly three times that of the same elections four years ago. A record 1,104 candidates are also competing for 452 seats.

District councilors are in charge of certain expenditure decisions and decide neighborhood issues, from recycling to transport and public health.

The citywide elections — normally not considered a major vote — are now seen as a key barometer of support for the city’s leader, Carrie Lam.

More than four million residents have registered to take part in the elections.

While the city has since June been rattled by anti-government unrest, necessitating repeated deployments of riot police, only small numbers of security forces were reported to be on the streets as of Sunday noon.

Lam has repeatedly urged calm and dialog to resolve differences with the protesters, and many are now voting to voice support for that call for peace.

Kevin Lai, a 45-year-old IT worker, said he had come early to vote for fear of any disruptions later in the day.

“Some people are afraid the elections will be stopped by unpredictable reasons — maybe some protests,” he said

Behind him, hundreds of people stood in line to vote.

Bank dealing manager Wong, 32, said he did not care about waiting in line to vote.

“I’m so proud to see so many people out here so early,” he said.

The protests in Hong Kong, which started over a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed wanted suspects to be extradited to mainland China, have turned into violent riots.

Beijing blames foreign powers for provoking continued protests.