About a third of Hong Kong ‘s registered voters elected a new 90-member legislature on Sunday, December 7, a turnout that avoided an embarrassment for the government but fell short of a ringing endorsement of an electoral system revamp that eliminated the once feisty opposition in the Chinese territory.

The turnout rate reached 31.9%, surpassing the 30.2% in the 2021 election, the first held under the new system. It was much lower than before the electoral changes, when turnout topped 50%.

Many of the city’s 4.1 million eligible voters, especially democracy supporters, have turned away from politics since a crackdown that has stifled dissent. Candidates must now go through a vetting process that ensures they are patriots who are loyal to the Chinese government. The government says the changes were needed to bring stability after massive anti-government protests in 2019.

The government launched a major campaign to drive up turnout, adding polling stations, extending voting hours and holding candidate forums. But public anger over government accountability in an apartment fire that killed at least 159 people late last month threatened to keep some potential voters at home.

In the end, enough came out to nudge up the turnout rate from 2021, the lowest since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Ahead of the vote, Chinese authorities called foreign media to a rare meeting to warn them that they need to comply with the city’s national security laws.

Deadly blaze stalled get-out-the-vote efforts

Election campaigning was suspended after the fire and remained subdued in the final days out of respect for the victims.

Government efforts to drive up turnout, seen as a referendum on the new electoral system, had been in full swing before the blaze. Promotional banners and posters were hung throughout the city and subsidies offered to centers for older people and people with disabilities to help them vote.

Authorities arrested people who allegedly posted content that incited others not to vote or cast invalid votes.

Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has raised questions over government oversight and suspected bid-rigging in building maintenance projects. The 1980s-era apartment complex was undergoing renovations.

China warns foreign media in Hong Kong

Beijing’s national security arm in Hong Kong summoned representatives of several foreign news outlets, including the Associated Press, on Saturday.

Some foreign media had spread false information and smeared the government’s disaster relief efforts after the fire, as well as attacked and interfered with the legislative elections, the Office for Safeguarding National Security said in a statement.

“No media outlet may use ‘freedom of the press’ as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs or Hong Kong affairs,” the statement said.

Authorities have warned the general public against using the fire to try to undermine the government and have arrested at least one person on suspicion of inciting hatred against government officials.