Hong Kong woman handed suspended jail sentence for online posts inciting others to cast invalid ballots in district council election
- Yeung Sze-wing, 51, sentenced to two months in jail but term is suspended for two years owing to guilty plea and ‘other mitigating factors’
- She was one of three arrested by anti-corruption watchdog on election day last December
A 51-year-old clerk has been handed a suspended jail sentence over online posts inciting others to cast invalid ballots in Hong Kong’s district council election last year.
Yeung Sze-wing, one of three arrested by the anti-corruption watchdog on December 10 when residents headed to the polls, pleaded guilty at Eastern Court on Monday to one count of engaging in illegal conduct by inciting others to cast invalid votes during an election period.
Principal Magistrate Ivy Chui Yee-mei sentenced Yeung to two months in jail but suspended the sentence for two years owing to her guilty plea and “other mitigating factors”.
Yeung’s offence was “serious in nature” as it “undermined the fairness of an election”, Chui said in a press release from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Yeung was charged under an amendment to the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance that took effect in May 2021 as part of a broader Beijing-led electoral overhaul designed to ensure only “patriots” held power in the city.
As part of that revamp, directly elected seats in the district councils were cut from 452 to 88 and hopefuls were required to secure backing from three community associations.
2 plead guilty to inciting others to cast invalid votes in Hong Kong’s Legco poll
The nomination process started on October 17, but no opposition hopefuls secured enough nominations to run. The remaining seats were chosen by the chief executive and the three neighbourhood committees.
Voter turnout hit a record low of 27.54 per cent, a sharp drop from the 71.23 per cent recorded in the previous municipal-level vote in 2019 held at the height of the anti-government protests and in which the opposition bloc scored a landslide victory.
The turnout was also down 8.28 percentage points from the previous lowest participation rate of 35.82 per cent in 1999.
Ex-opposition sectors cast 10 per cent of invalid ballots in 2021 Hong Kong poll
In court on Monday, Yeung admitted to sharing a post on social media made by disqualified district councillor Leos Lee Man-ho that called on others to boycott the election.
Yeung added a caption to the post that urged voters to spoil their ballots by writing their names and Hong Kong identity cards on the slips.
An arrest warrant was also issued for Lee but he had left the city. He faces one count of engaging in illegal conduct to incite another person not to vote.
Anyone convicted of inciting others not to vote or to cast invalid ballots during an election can face three years in prison and a maximum fine of HK$200,000.
