Hong Kong election turnout in focus amid anger over deadly fire

Hong Kong's citizens were voting on Sunday in an election where the focus is on turnout, with residents grieving and traumatised after the city's worst fire in nearly 80 years and the authorities scrambling to avoid a broader public backlash.



Security was tight in the northern district of Tai Po, close to the border with mainland China, where the fire engulfed seven towers. The city is holding elections for the Legislative Council, in which only candidates vetted as "patriots" by the China-backed Hong Kong government may run.



Residents are angry over the blaze that killed at least 159 people and took nearly two days to extinguish after it broke out on November 26. The authorities say substandard building materials used in renovating a high-rise housing estate were responsible for fuelling the fire.



Eager to contain the public dismay, authorities have launched criminal and corruption investigations into the blaze, and roughly 100 police patrolled the area around Wang Fuk Court, the site of the fire, early on Sunday.



A resident in his late 70s named Cheng, who lives near the charred buildings, said he would not vote.



"I’m very upset by the great fire,” he said during a morning walk. “This is a result of a flawed government ... There is not a healthy system now and I won’t vote to support those pro-establishment politicians who failed us."