One Last Free Vote Threatened

Pan-democrats are urging people to vote in the primaries

This weekend, the pan-democrats are holding their own primaries, an election prelude to see which candidates among them are the strongest ones to run in September's Legislative Council elections.

It is also possibly the last free vote Hong Kong residents have, with the new national security law making it harder for opposition candidates to run, or there is the chance that Beijing may cancel the elections altogether.

Having primaries will also prevent splitting the vote among pan-democratic candidates in the hopes of securing a larger number of seats in Legco, called "the 35+plan".

PORI was raided by police this evening

However, the government is already throwing a number of obstacles in the way already, the latest is the police storming the offices of the independent pollster Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute this evening around 8pm with a warrant.

The police said there were complaints that people's personal details, including police officers were leaked, and suspect the organization's computers were hacked.

Democratic lawmakers are saying HKPORI was raided because it helped design the voting system for the primaries.

At the time of the raid, the police were trying to take all of the computers, according to Leung Kai-chi, an honorary director of HKPORI.

The independent pollster is run by Robert Chung Ting-yiu who used to run a polling operation at the University of Hong Kong, but left after he was under fire by pro-Beijing critics, who claimed his polling was inaccurate.

Interestingly today, the latest poll asked respondents: "Is Hong Kong still a free city?" Sixty-one percent said no, 32 percent said yes.

Benny Tai is hoping 35 pan dems win seats

In addition today, Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary Erick Tsang Kwok-wai warned the primaries risked breaching the national security law, while the Home Affairs Bureau reiterated that district councillors who planned to use their offices as polling stations would not get any relevant expenditure reimbursed.

And the Housing Authority said it will take action against tenants who violate their tenancy agreements.

While anyone who is a registered voter can take part in these primaries, as long as they show their HKID card and a bill that has their address. But with the government cracking down hard, will the police be waiting at these "polling stations" ready to pounce, arresting residents for taking part in illegal elections?

But pan-democrats are encouraging people to be strong and make their voices heard. It may be the last time they are freely expressed.

Carrie Lam Denies Reality

Carrie Lam claims the violence has to end before peace can come to HK

The insanity that is Hong Kong continues.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave her regular press briefing this morning, and blamed the city's "technical recession" on the protesters.

"To get to the root of the problems, we must stop violence and let calmness restore in the city... but it was unfortunately that on Sunday and last night, rioters found some excuses, and engaged in extreme violence."

Protesters are still coming out with masks and umbrellas

When asked by CNN if she had any other political tools to bring peace to Hong Kong, as subsidies to the transport and hospitality industries are just band-aids, Lam reiterated that the violence had to be dealt with first before dialogue could take place, though she added dialogues have already started.

Come on Carrie! The problem is that your inability to listen to the 1 million then 2 million residents of Hong Kong about how they felt about the proposed extradition bill has forced them to escalate their actions to violence. That was the only way you actually paid attention... not that you have solved the issue. Too little too late.

And do you understand that even though there are protesters that are violent, there are many people who may not also be on the streets, but they are quietly supporting these people on the front lines? Or maybe you can't fathom this could possibly be true.

Perhaps you should look at the latest poll by Dr Robert Chung of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute.

Your popularity rating has dropped to another historic low of 20.2, according to a telephone poll of 1,038 people between October 17 and 23.

Some MTR stations were vandalized again on the weekend

The previous low was 22.3 earlier this month. That means more than 80 percent of poll respondents gave Lam a vote of no confidence, while 70 percent said they distrusted the government.

Meanwhile an RTHK reporter asked Lam to comment on the Financial Times article last week that claimed the central government was looking to replace her by March. Lam repeated that Beijing was still supportive of her  and parroted the Foreign Ministry in saying the story was "politically motivated", though what exactly the Foreign Ministry said cannot be found on its website anymore...

But there was more aggravating news later in the day. Joshua Wong Chi-fung of Demosisto was finally and formally disqualified from running in next month's district council elections. He is the only candidate to be barred from running because of his political stance.

"The candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting 'self-determination' is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR," returning officer Laura Liang Aron wrote in a six-page report.

Joshua Wong says his disqualification is politically motivated

Wong was clearly not pleased, along with many who believe the voting system has become politicized.

"The ban is clearly political driven," he said. "The so-called reason is judging subjectively on my intention to uphold the Basic Law. But everyone knows the true reason is my identity -- Joshua Wong is a crime in their mind.

"I have never actively advocated independence as an option, but she twisted and wrongly interpreted my remark," he continued, adding that Beijing had clearly exerted great pressure on Hong Kong officials, demonstrated by the original returning officer taking sick leave and the People's Daily calling him an "independence leader".

Wong also points out the question of allegiance does not mention district councils in the legislation, so why are candidates being vetted this way?

What is wrong about having Wong run in the elections? As someone pointed out on Twitter, wouldn't it be better for him to win the election and then be so busy with domestic affairs that he wouldn't be able to travel around the world and advocate freedom for Hong Kong?

Police are using more aggressive tactics to deal with protesters

This decision to disqualify him only further infuriates people -- not just protesters, but even ordinary people who are seeing "one country, two systems" eroding even further.

Wong says he will consider taking legal action after the November 24 district council elections. In the meantime the candidate he was planning to run against, incumbent Judy Chan Ka-pui of the New People's Party is concerned she is not a shoe-in because there is so much backlash against pro-Beijing political parties at the moment.

The apparent meddling by Beijing is enough to keep protesters -- active or not -- focused on the fight. There are too many instances of Hong Kong's rights and freedoms deteriorating that they cannot bear to just stand by and let it happen.

So while there may not look like there are a lot of protesters out on the streets these days, Carrie, they have many more people who have their back.

Leaks on Carrie Lam's Frustrations

A recording reveals Lam's inability to resolve the crisis in Hong Kong

Another explosive report by Reuters reveals a taped recording of one of Chief Executive Carrie Lam's recent meetings with business people where she admits she is between a rock and a hard place.

In a speech in English, Lam says she made a serious mistake in putting forward the extradition bill, but now the crisis has become a national security and sovereignty issue, and so it is beyond her ability to control the situation.

She says, "... the room, the political room for the chief executive who, unfortunately, has to serve two masters by constitution, that is the central people's government and the people of Hong Kong, that political room for maneuvering is very, very, very limited". 

She claims the PLA will not come into Hong Kong

Wait a second -- when has she served the people of Hong Kong? She can also show some integrity and quit even if Beijing does not accept her resignation, but no she is still very much at Government House.

Interestingly she lets the business sector know in a closed-door meeting that while the National Day celebrations are less than a month away, there is "absolutely no plan" to deploy the People's Liberation Army on Hong Kong streets, as Beijing knows this is bad optics.

While we might be able to breathe a sigh of relief on this one -- might is the operative word -- Lam says Beijing is willing to play the long game in quelling the protests, even if it meant a drop in tourism, loses in capital outflows and IPO cancellations.

In other words this probably means even more arrests and prosecutions, not to mention more violent altercations with the police.

She also told her audience of her frustration at not being able "to reduce the pressure on my frontline police officers" or to provide a political solution to "pacify the large number of peaceful protesters who are so angry with the government, with me in particular".

Thousands of students protest at Chinese University campus

Her inability "to offer a political situation in order to relieve the tension," she said, was the source of her "biggest sadness".
 "For a chief executive to have caused this huge havoc is unforgivable," Lam said.

In her speech she added how this crisis has impacted her personally. "Nowadays it is extremely difficult for me to go out. I have not been on the streets, not in the shopping malls, can't go to a hair salon. I can't do anything because my whereabouts will be spread around social media."

If she were to appear in public, she said, "you could expect a big crowd of black T-shirts and black-masked young people waiting for me."

Has she even tried? The claim that she can't go to a salon these days doesn't have any sympathy from anyone.

And as if it wasn't obvious by now, Lam is now the least popular of all the chief executives since 1997. Veteran pollster Robert Chung of the Public Opinion Research Institute says her success in pushing through several controversial proposals bolstered her belief in believing she could ram through the extradition bill.

"All these things made her feel so confident, and when we had the first demonstration, she still thought, 'Don't worry, I'll get through in two days and things will be over,'" Chung said. "But she was totally wrong."

Dr Sun Yat-sen prepared for battle!

Lam again reiterated to her audience of business people that the extradition bill was of her doing, and that it was not instructed or coerced by the central government.

She admits it would be naive to paint a rosy picture for the near future, and said the government originally projected arresting 1,000 to 2,000 people.

"Hong Kong is not dead yet. Maybe she is very, very sick, but she is not dead yet," she said.

And who's fault is that?

She will have more to answer to tomorrow in her regular weekly news conference.

Earlier today several university campuses and secondary schools held protests on the first day of school.

It was very thoughtful of the students to prepare the father of the revolution, Dr Sun Yat-sen with a helmet, gas mask and gloves...