Hong Kong lawmakers concerned over 52% increase in coming Legco election spending

Hong Kong lawmakers have expressed concerns about a 52 per cent jump in spending for the coming Legislative Council election, compared with four years ago, questioning whether the additional resources will warrant a high voter turnout.

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai defended the increased costs on Wednesday, saying election promotional efforts were of key importance and stressing no turnout target had been set as it depended on many factors.

Tsang and lawmakers discussed the government’s plan to spend HK$1.28 billion on the December 7 election, set to be the second under a “patriots-only” electoral overhaul.

The planned budget represents a 52 per cent surge from the HK$841 million spent on the 2021 election, which had a turnout of only 30.2 per cent – the lowest since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.

In a paper submitted to the Legco finance committee on Monday, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said the increase would be mainly spent on election promotion and technological appliances.

Authorities will allocate HK$177 million for election promotion, HK$814 million for technological appliances and voting venues’ rents, and HK$289 million to pay the possible 37,000 personnel, according to the paper.