'New district councils should be de-politicised'
Chief Secretary Eric Chan said the territory's new district councils should be de-politicised and return to their advisory role in accordance with the Basic Law. In a Sing Tao Daily interview published on Thursday, Chan also said he "would not predict" if some of the candidates who fail to win election on December 10 will be appointed by the government. Of the 470 district councillors in the new term, 88 will be chosen by the public while 179 are to appointed by the government under a revised electoral system. Chan said the government is coming up with the list of appointed councillors, which includes professionals such as doctors and lawyers. It will be announced after the December polls. Chan also said there were many problems with the 2019 district council polls, among them a high number of directly elected members. "You haven't visited the district or performed any services, or your names were unheard of, but as long as you chanted some anti-China and anti-Hong Kong slogans you got elected. This is extremely not ideal," he said. Chan also said authorities aim to achieve a high turnout in the December vote, but added that the number of people who cast their ballot does not reflect the effectiveness of the electoral system. "In 2019, turnout was more than 71 percent, which was high... but it resulted in chaos, and we don't think the council was successful," he said.