a Twitter thread from @HongKongFP

1.

District Council elections will take place on Sunday, November 24 in 452 constituencies across #HongKong. Polling stations open from 7:30am to 10:30pm.

Read HKFP’s election interview series: https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/11/09/hong-kongs-2019-district-council-candidates-part-i-sai-kung-planning-activist-debby-chan/

File photo: GovHK.

2.

Candidates embarked on last-minute campaigning on Saturday, after many suspended campaigns to focus on helping university students in the past week.

The pro-Beijing camp holds three-quarters of the seats, and has a majority in all 18 councils.

Photo: Stand News screenshot.

3.

The turnout of the 2015 District Council election was 47 percent of registered voters. This figure - though far lower than the 58.3 percent turnout for the following year's LegCo election - already represents a significant increase on 2011's turnout.

Photo: Stand News screenshot

4.

Every single one of the 452 elected constituencies will be contested on Sunday.

Many constituencies have three or more candidates, amid widespread allegations that Beijing has planted some "independent" runners to split the pro-democracy vote.

Photo: Citizen News. #hongkong

5.

A record-breaking five candidates will contest each of the following seats: Tsim Sha Tsui West (in Yau Tsim Mong), Shing Yan (in Yuen Long), Ma On Shan Town Centre (in Shatin) and Ching Fat (in Kwai Tsing).

File photo: HKFP. #hongkong

6.

Last month, the police won a court order to prevent the public from viewing others' details on the voter registry.

But as Initium Media noted, only two convictions resulted from over 1,000 investigations of registering false voter details in 2015/16, the last two election years.

7.

19 members of an independent international District Council observation mission have arrived in #HongKong to record any irregularities on Sunday.

Photo: Fight For Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong via Facebook.

8.

Tycoon-owned online media outlet HK01 has released a list of candidates — mostly in the pro-democracy camp — which it “does not support”.

Photo: HK01 screenshot. #hongkong

9.

Polls have opened at 7:30am, and short queues have been seen even before the opening time.

#hongkong

10.

Longer queues formed even before 7:30am in certain constituencies in the New Territories — perhaps in response to rumours the polls may end early without any compensatory voting hours if protests erupt, which the gov’t has denied.

Photo: Apple Daily / Stand News. #hongkong

11.

As suggested by the new Commissioner of Police, several riot officers can be seen outside some voting stations, which he claimed would help maintain a “safe” voting environment.

Photo: Stand News. #hongkong

12.

At 8:30am, Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other senior officials cast their vote at Raimondi College, the polling station for Mid-levels East. Incumbent Democratic Party district councillor Ng Siu-hong is running there against the DAB's Samuel Mok.

Photo: May James / HKFP.

13.

The cumulative voter turnout for the first hour of the 2019 District Council election - from 7:30-8:30am - is 3.82 percent, or 157,889 people.

This figure represents over three times the turnout for the first hour in 2015, which was 1.28 percent.

#hongkong

14.

Controversial pro-Beijing legislator Junius Ho campaigns in Tuen Mun, flanked by a number of men wearing sunglasses.

Photo: Apple Daily screenshot. #hongkong

15.

Tai Po has the highest first-hour voter turnout of all 18 districts, with 4.45 percent of the registered electorate - 8,343 people - voting before 8:30am.

Central/Western District has the lowest first-hour turnout at 3.19 percent.

Photo: Stand News / InMedia / HKFP. #hongkong

16.

As of 9:30am, two hours into Sunday's District Council election, the cumulative turnout is 10.41 percent.

In 2015, the two-hour cumulative turnout was 3.85 percent.

17.

After two hours of voting, Tsuen Wan has overtaken Tai Po to become the district with the highest cumulative turnout so far.

18.

As of 10:30am, three hours into the 2019 District Council election, 17.43 percent of the electorate — 720,455 people — have voted.

By the same time in the 2015 election, only 6.79 percent cast their votes.

Photo: USP. #hongkong

19.

In Tuen Mun’s Lok Tsui constituency, the runners are pro-Beijing legislator Junius Ho, the Democratic Party’s Lo Chun-yu, as well as Chiang Ching-man — an apparently independent candidate citing protest slogans who joined the race on the last nomination day.

Photo: HKFP.

20.

In Sai Kung’s Sheung Tak constituency, a particularly long queue of voters outside the polling station zigzagged multiple times on Sunday morning.

Photo: Apple Daily. #hongkong

21.

Another particularly long queue is at Shatin’s Lek Yuen Estate, where the injured democrat Jimmy Sham faces off Wong Yue-hon.

Photo: May James / HKFP. #hongkong

22.

Over a million people have voted as of 11:30am, four hours into the 2019 District Council election, representing a 24.37 percent turnout.

At the same time in 2015, there was a 10.89 percent turnout.

Photo: May James / HKFP. #hongkong

23.

There have been reports in certain polling stations, elderly people have been allowed in with priority so as to shorten their queuing time.

HKFP saw a commotion between older voters and polling staff in Ma Tau Wai after staff refused to allow this.

File photo: May James / HKFP.

24.

The aggregate rate after four hours of elections across Hong Kong’s 18 districts sees Kowloon City with the highest turnout so far.

#hongkong

25.

An international group of observers came to Tuen Mun to meet controversial pro-Beijing candidate Junius Ho. Ho, meeting UK rights activist Luke de Pulford, told him to "get off".

Democrat Lo Chun-yu, and Chiang Ching-man, are Ho's rivals in Lok Tsui constituency.

#hongkong

26.

Volunteers of Junius Ho took videos of the international election observation group, including Lithuanian lawmaker Mantas Adomenas, when they were speaking with him in Tuen Mun.

Photo: HKFP. #hongkong

27.

Democrat Jimmy Sham - injured after a hit-and-run attack last month - has arrived to campaign in Lek Yuen, Shatin where he is running against rival Wong Yue-hon.

In the past few weeks, fellow activists such as Avery Ng have campaigned on behalf of Sham.

Photo: May James / HKFP.

28.

In Sham Shui Po's Nam Shan, democrat Tam Kwok-kiu criticised pro-Beijing challenger Chen Lihong for handing out "palm-sized" sample ballots to elderly voters to take into polling stations so they vote "correctly" - for herself.

Photo: InMedia. #hongkong

29.

The practice of handing out such "palm-sized" sample ballots by pro-Beijing parties has generally been tolerated by electoral authorities.

Chan Ping-fai and Chui Chun-nam are the other candidates in Nam Shan constituency.

Photo: InMedia.

30.

As of 12:30pm, five hours into district election Sunday, 30.98 percent of the electorate - 1,280,584 people - have voted.

At this time in 2015, there was a 14.48 percent turnout, representing only 452,077 people.

Photo: HKFP. #hongkong

31.

A Tuen Mun voter, "Andy", told HKFP he flew back from California to vote: “The whole world sees this election as a referendum".

File photo: May James / HKFP. #hongkong

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