Hong Kong voter registration skyrockets to biggest gain since at least 2003 – with huge increase driven by ‘dissatisfaction’ over extradition bill crisis

• More than 386,000 new registered voters is biggest annual gain since at least 2003
• Surge is driven by more than 12 per cent rise in registrations from those aged 18 to 35

The number of registered voters between the ages of 18 and 35 has jumped more than 12 per cent from last year " the surge resulting from hundreds of thousands of young Hongkongers signing up to vote amid the extradition bill crisis.

Nearly 386,000 people have registered to vote in the past year " the most since at least 2003 " bringing the number of voters in the city to 4.12 million, according to figures released on Thursday by the Registration and Electoral Office.

The publication of the 2019 provisional voter registry comes three months before district council elections, the first citywide polls to be held since the extradition bill movement that has rocked the city since June.

"Most of these newly registered voters " despite not being all young " are dissatisfied by the government's handling of the bill," said Dr Cheung Chor-yung, a political scientist at City University.

"They could make a fairly huge impact in the upcoming elections if they are determined to vote out the conservative candidates."

Hongkongers aged between 18 and 35 emerged as the most receptive group to the protesters' campaign to sign up voters to oust pro-government politicians in coming elections.

The 18 to 35 group swelled by 12.3 per cent from 2018, the biggest increase of all age groups and exceeding the overall rise of 8 per cent.

Voters aged 71 and above were the second biggest registration group, jumping by 8.7 per cent from last year. The age group between 56 and 70 increased 7.1 per cent, and new voters between 36 and 55 increased 5.5 per cent.

In 12 smaller age brackets, the 31 to 35 group and the 26 to 35 group increased by nearly 15 per cent from last year. The group aged between 51 and 55 showed the only decrease, dropping 1.4 per cent.

Cheung said young people, compared to the older voters, were generally less eager to cast ballots in local polls, as reflected in turnout rates.

"The spike in young voters is definitely driven by the anti-bill protests," he said. "They realise that if they are to exercise their political power, they have to vote " as well as participating in marches and frontline struggles."

The latest voter registration numbers snapped a downturn in 2018, when there was a decline in the number of registered voters younger than 61. Last year, registered voters in Hong Kong increased by 9,249 from 2017, reaching more than 3.81 million.

Record rise in voter registration after bill protest cheers opposition

Analysts at the time attributed the drop to young people's waning interest in politics after the 2014 Occupy movement " which had failed to make Beijing budge on greater democracy " and the city's rapidly ageing population.

The provisional registers of voters were made open for public inspection with the final electoral rolls set for publication on or before September 25.

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