Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Hong Kong (Fides Service) – Catholic observers in Kong Kong describe the triumph of the Democratic Party in November 23 elections as a history making event. Local church sources tell Fides that another page has been written in the history of the territory. The election results show the impact of a street protest last July against a local government decree restricting the citizens’ freedom. The people of Hong Kong are determined to protect the fruits of democracy won with courage and tenacity”.
More than one million (about 44% dei 2.4 million eligible voters) chose 400 representatives who will serve in the 18 districts of the Island for the next four years. This was the highest number of voters ever recorded in Hong Kong.
Official results say the Democratic Party obtained 95 of 120 seats for which it presented itself and the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong obtained only 62 seats of the 206 for which it was running. According to the mechanism of municipal elections, about 100 assembly counsellors are appointed by the head of local government. The defeat of the pro-government Party was due to the decision to support the national security law presented by executive administrator Tung Chee-hwa.
The Catholic Church in Hong Kong has always given maximum attention to democracy on the Island working with great courage and solidarity. Before the elections Hong Kong diocesan bulletin Kun Kao Pao encouraged local Christians and all people of good will to place their vote.
The editorial quoting Pope John Paul II’s teaching said: “ The Church values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate. Thus she cannot encourage the formation of narrow ruling groups which usurp the power of the State for individual interests or for ideological ends.(Centesimus Annus, 46)”.
The editorial addresses individual citizens: “To preserve the democratic system so hardly won, to protect the rights of liberty and equality, to build a more just and harmonious society, your vote is determinant. We encourage Catholics to follow the social teaching of the Church: to build the Kingdom of Christ in the world, it is our duty to obey our Christian conscience taking an active part in the vote”.
(Fides Service 25/11/2003 lines 42 words 430)
