A pro-democracy district councillor has accused pro-Beijing by-election winner Vincent Cheng of offering voters gift bags which could be collected after the election. Cheng denied the allegations to HKFP.
Yeung Yuk, a district councillor for Lai Chi Kok South, said he received a concerning audio recording from a resident after Sunday’s vote. Cheng – the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) – candidate, won the West Kowloon constituency by a narrow margin of around 2,400 votes.
“A suspected DAB campaigner asked residents to vote for the no.2 candidate during the March 11 by-election – then, they would be able to receive gift bags after registering with DAB,” Yeung, of the Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood, wrote on Facebook on Thursday. “This is very serious – alleged bribery in an election.”
In the recording, a woman asked the receiver: “Good morning, did your mother apply for a gift bag last time? They said in this [election], will your mother go to the DAB, this Sunday March 11, will she vote for no.2?”
“If you vote for no.2, they said they will register your name for you, will you vote? You check how many people [will vote] by that time. The next time they have something to give away, they will give to you. One for each person, you check how many people.”
“If you vote, you send your name, and you can write the names of the people in [your] building – then I will register for you.”
Yeung said the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance criminalises any act to provide interests to voters for their votes.
“If the interests voters received are for the votes cast for the candidate, the voters will also violate the law. I urge all of you not to be tempted by interests, and we should defend a clean election!” Yeung wrote on social media.
Vincent Cheng told HKFP on Thursday: “During my whole campaign, my campaign team and I have followed election laws. Campaigning is conducted in accordance with the law.”
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