District Council polls seen as final piece in principle of 'patriots governing HK'

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's 7th District Council Ordinary Election, which was held on Sunday, was the final piece in the full implementation of the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong", and the voting, which carries far-reaching implications for Hong Kong, is relevant to every resident in the city, the SAR's leaders and voters said.

A total of 399 candidates ran for 176 seats in the 18 District Committees' constituencies and 88 seats in the 18 geographical constituencies. The rest of the 470 district council seats will be filled by 179 appointed members and 27 ex officio members. They will hold office for four years starting on Jan 1.

Polling began at 8:30 am. The total turnout rate at District Committees' constituencies was nearly 97 percent, with more than 2,450 people casting votes, before polling for those constituencies ended at 2:30 pm. Polling for the geographical constituencies was expected to end around midnight.