Guest Comments by Au Yeung Chi Fei

The writer represents the Civic Party, a political group at the forefront in Hong Kong’s long battle for universal suffrage.

HONG KONG – On May 16, people here marked the beginning of a new democratic movement by casting half-a-million votes in favor of a better, fully democratic city.

The total number of votes cast for five Civic Party and League of Social Democrats candidates, plus for five Tertiary 2012 candidates, totaled 500,787. Each of those votes represented a clear determination in support of the all-important issue -- implementation of universal suffrage and abolition of functional constituencies without delay”. We’re grateful and encouraged by these votes.

When we launched the Five Districts Referendum Movement, we looked forward to a contest with the pro-establishment camp. We announced that we’d consider the movement a success if the total number of votes cast for the pan-democratic candidates exceeded the votes achieved by the most successful opposing candidate in each of the five districts. We also set a target of a 50-per-cent turnout rate.   

In fact, votes for our five candidates vastly exceeded the totals for other candidates in all five districts. The voter-turnout rate reached just 17.1%.

Yet despite a boycott by pro-establishment parties and suppression by the authorities, the Five Districts Referendum is the largest-scale democratic movement since July 1, 2003. The government should respond to the half-million-strong demand for prompt universal suffrage and abolition of the undemocratic functional constituencies.

Hong Kong’s new democratic movement must encourage people to have a direct say in their own destiny, especially when constitutional reform directly affects livelihoods and appears as a solemn promise in our Basic Law. We’re glad about widespread participation in this movement. Many people made videos, wrote articles or created supportive banners and labels. The role of young people, especially the Tertiary 2012 group, shows that impatience for democracy will continue to grow.

This new democracy movement reaches beyond party lines, and we’d like to thank all those who contributed. We believe it will grow and lead to a better Hong Kong. It’s a new beginning.