HK voters elect 70 legislators for 6th term Legislative Council

Seventy lawmakers have been elected to the sixth Legislative Council (LegCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), according to Hong Kong's Electoral Affairs Commission Monday evening.

The election was held on Sunday, when more than 2.2 million eligible voters casted their ballots at hundreds of polling stations with a turnout rate of 58 percent.

Both the total amount of voters and the turnout rate are the highest in the LegCo election since 1997.

Hong Kong's Legislative Council has 70 seats, with 35 returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, and the other 35 by functional constituencies.

The geographical constituencies include Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West, Kowloon East, New Territories West and New Territories East, where 213 candidates contested 35 seats.

For the functional constituency election, there are 55 validly nominated candidates (excluding candidates of the District Council (second) functional constituency), and 43 of them ran for 18 seats in the functional constituencies. The remaining 12 candidates in 10 functional constituencies returned to the LegCo uncontested.

In addition, 21 candidates contested five seats in the District Council (second) functional constituency, commonly known as the "super seats."

There were nearly 3.78 million Hong Kong residents registered as eligible voters for the election of the sixth term LegCo, with an increase of about 310,000 voters from the last LegCo election in 2012.

Among all the 70 newly-elected LegCo seats, the pro-establishment camp won 41 seats, accounting for about 60 percent of the total.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), won 12 seats and continues to be the biggest political organ within the LegCo.

The LegCo is the legislative body of the Hong Kong SAR. Each term of office of a legislator is four years, except for the first term when it was set to be two years.

The mainland underscored its "resolute opposition" against any form of "Hong Kong independence" activities inside or outside of the special administrative region's (SAR) Legislative Council (LegCo), according to an official statement on Monday.

The statement, issued by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, noted that certain organizations and candidates were publicly advocating for "Hong Kong independence," capitalizing on the exposure afforded to them because of the election for the sixth-term LegCo of the Hong Kong SAR.

The statement reiterated that "Hong Kong independence" was against the Constitution of China, the Basic Law and relevant laws of the Hong Kong SAR, that it was a threat to China's sovereignty and security, damaged the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and was counter to the fundamental interests of Hong Kong citizens.

"We firmly support the Hong Kong SAR government to mete out penalties according to law," the statement said.

The fifth term of LegCo began on Oct. 1, 2012 and will end on Sept. 30, 2016. The term of office of the newly-elected sixth LegCo members will begin on Oct. 1.

Before nomination for the election, Hong Kong's Electoral Affairs Commission demanded that all the candidates must endorse a statement promising to support the Hong Kong Basic Law and be loyal to the Hong Kong SAR.

（APD）