Chairman of Hong Kong's Electoral Affairs Commission Justice David Lok (second right) and EAC members Professor Daniel Shek (first right) and Bernard Man (third right) brief the media on the 2023 District Council Ordinary Election on Dec 11, 2023 morning. Government Chief Information Officer Tony Wong (second left), and Chief Electoral Officer of the Registration and Electoral Office Raymond Wang (first left) were also present. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVT)

HONG KONG – The District Council geographical constituencies results were announced Monday morning after the 2023 District Council Ordinary Election was held peacefully on Sunday from 8:30 am to midnight, 90 additional minutes allocated after an electronic glitch in the evening.  

The turnout stood at 27.54 percent at the end of the first major territorywide election held after the district governance system was overhauled in line with a "patriots only" policy in July. 

"This was a high-quality election that met the objectives of being conducted in a fair, just, clean, safe and orderly manner overall, fully demonstrating an election culture of excellence and the superiority of the reformed DCs system," Chief Executive John Lee Ka-Chiu said while congratulating 264 elected members – 88 from the geographical constituencies and 176 from the District Committees constituencies.

READ MORE: Results for District Committees constituencies polls announced

The new term of DCs will introduce a monitoring mechanism of the councilors’ performance, enabling residents to continuously monitor their performance, he said. “This can ensure that every DC member under the new system delivers due diligence and meets public expectations, providing high-quality services to citizens.”

The new term of DCs will introduce a monitoring mechanism of DC members' performance, enabling citizens to continuously monitor the performance of DC members during their term of office.

John Lee, Chief Executive, HKSAR

Expressing gratitude to electors for casting votes in the District Council election, Legislative Council President Andrew Leung expressed his hope that the new District Council members will do their utmost in discharging their duties, and ensure the operation of District Councils returns to the right track. 

Over 1.19 million geographical constituency electors participated in the election, the voting and vote-counting processes operated smoothly in general, and all election arrangements were able to fully reflect the principles of transparency, honesty, and fairness, said David Lok, chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission when meeting the press on Monday morning.

Lo Yuen Ting of Tsing Yi constituency polled 22,775 votes – the highest individual number for an elected candidate. Yiu Ming of Wu Tip Shan constituency came second with 20,053 votes and Cheung Pui Kong of Kwun Tong North came third with 18,420 votes.

The lowest number of votes polled by an elected candidate was 3,061 – recorded at Central constituency for Fung Kar Leung Karl. In fact, the two candidates elected in Central polled among the lowest individual votes in all of Hong Kong.

According to China Daily analysis, the most robust voting pattern was discerned in respect of the Kwun Tong District Council where voters not only posted the highest turnout rate at 26.59 percent as per government data shared at 7:30 pm Sunday but also logged the consistently highest turnout rate from the first hour of polling.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (second right), Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission Justice David Lok (second left), and EAC members Professor Daniel Shek (first left) and Bernard Man empty a ballot box at Queen's College, Hong Kong in the early morning of Dec 11, 2023, after the conclusion of voting in the 2023 District Council Ordinary Election on Sunday. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

Kwun Tong has the second-highest number of registered voters at 418,477. Sha Tin District Council, which has the largest number of registered voters at 438,832, posted a 23.16 percent turnout.

Islands District Council recorded the lowest turnout at 22.41 percent. With also the second-fewest registered voters among all Hong Kong constituencies at 96,977, it recorded the lowest turnout from the first hour of voting.

The counting of votes was completed at 7.58 am Monday after commencing at the close of polls at midnight Sunday. About 2,454 ballot papers from the District Committees constituencies and about 1,193,193 ballot papers from geographical constituencies were counted in about eight hours.