Only 12 per cent vote in contentious Hong Kong elections (1st Lead)

May 16, 2010, 12:19 GMT

Hong Kong - Turnout was low Sunday during controversial Hong Kong by-elections that had been touted by supporters as a de facto referendum on democracy.

Five pro-democracy legislators resigned to force the by-elections as a protest against proposed electoral reforms, which they say do not go far enough towards universal suffrage.

Pro-China parties refused to participate and Beijing-appointed chief executive Donald Tsang said he would not vote, calling the elections a waste of money and an abuse of the electoral process.

All senior government officials also decided not to vote and the government's constitutional affairs secretary Stephen Lam Sunday attacked the by-elections as 'unnecessary'.

With four hours to go before polls closed on Sunday evening, only around 405,000 of 3.3 million registered voters - just over 12 per cent - had turned out to vote.

Pro-democracy parties had hoped for more than one million voters, or 30 per cent of the electorate in the city of 7 million. Polling stations close at 10.30 pm.

Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, has no popular vote for chief executive and only half its 60 legislators directly elected.

The city is technically entitled to full democracy under its post- handover mini-constitution, but Beijing has so far refused to set a timetable for universal suffrage.