Pro-democracy candidates aim to ride wave of anti-china sentiment

● Battle is on to keep control of at least a third of assembly seats

Hong Kong citizens voted yesterday in the specially administered Chinese city’s most crucial election since the handover from Britain in 1997, the outcome of which could pave the way for a fresh round of political confrontations over Beijing’s control of the city.

The vote for Legislative Council lawmakers is set to test the unity of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp as a new generation of radical activists, who emerged in the wake of 2014 pro-democracy street protests, joined the race.

They are hoping to ride a rising tide of anti-china sentiment as they challenge formidably resourced pro-beijing rivals. Many of the newcomers back the previously unthinkable idea of independence for Hong Kong, which has added to divisions in the broader prodemocracy movement and overshadowed the election.

Last month, officials disqualified six pro-independence candidates in an attempt to tamp down the debate, though other candidates with similar views made the cut.

Hong Kong voters feel they have few other negotiating tactics left in their battle for genuine democracy as Beijing takes an increasingly hardline stance.

“It’s bleak, but I think if China doesn’t leave us to do what

0 Pro-democracy candidate Tam Tak-chi, right, of People Power, waves to supporters at a polling station

At stake is the power to keep the city’s unpopular Beijingbacked leader, Leung Chunying, and his government in check. “Pan-democrat” lawmakers currently control 27 of 70 seats, compared with 43 held by politicians friendly to Beijing. The democrats are fighting to keep control of at least a third of the seats, which gives them veto power to block government attempts to enact unpopular legislation, such as Beijing’s controversial election revamp that triggered the 2014 street protests.