KPMG is among the businesses that support the ‘patriotic’ election in Hong Kong

KPMG is one of Hong Kong’s largest businesses, urging workers to vote in what the government calls a “patriotic” election for the city’s parliament, as officials worry about the low turnout.

The Big Four auditing commission has given employees an extra day to exercise their “voting rights” on Sunday’s election of the Legislative Council, a parliament in Hong Kong, according to an internal email seen by the Financial Times.

“Fellow voters will be asked to complete a simple online application to indicate they are eligible to vote and have voted,” KPMG said in an email Tuesday. KPMG did not respond to a request for comment.

This election will be the first of its kind in parliament since its inception a major change this year which prevented many Hong Kong politicians from running for office and forcing candidates to test their loyalty to China.

The legislative reform follows Beijing’s enactment of a national security law in Hong Kong last year to end anti-government protests in the aftermath of the 2019 riots in the city.

But a removing politicians who promote democracy Since the election it has left government officials in a hurry to urge people in the politically divided city to vote, while the turnout is expected to plummet.

Two polls this month also said that about 33 to 36 percent of those polled were not ready to take part in the upcoming elections.

Critics have said called the election a false election. Beijing reduced the number of directly elected seats from 35 to 20, with only 10 of the 153 candidates for 90 seats claiming to be “democratic” or “independent”. Many opposition politicians have fled overseas or arrested Beijing has enacted a national security law.

Many Hong Kong billions and their children have also shown their support for the elections this week. One tycoons are nervous after upsetting Beijing during the 2019 protests by not showing enough opposition to the pro-democracy movement, well-known top-level officials have said so.

Raymond Kwok, chairman of the builders of Sun Hung Kai Properties and a supporter of the second richest family in Asia, urged staff in the internal mail to “make good use of” their vote on Sunday’s vote. “I urge all my friends who are eligible to vote. . . to vote, ”he wrote.

Brian Li, chief executive officer of East Asia-based Bank of Hong Kong and a member of China’s largest political advisory board, wrote in newspapers “The importance of [the public] voting and electing people who love China, they love Hong Kong ”.

“The [business sector] should show support. . . “- says Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, China’s rational think tank in Beijing.

Last week, Xia Baolong, Beijing’s chief bureaucrat overseeing Hong Kong, he called on the people of the city to vote for “patriots” and to criticize Western governments that criticize “disruptive” elections.

The Hong Kong government has spent less than HK $ 6.8m (US $ 872,000) on more than a dozen advertising campaigns, urging voters to “cast their ballots in Hong Kong – our home”.

Officials have warned that calling for democratically elected leaders to overwhelm Sunday’s elections with empty ballots could also violate the country’s security law. At least 10 people, including a former student leader, have been arrested on suspicion of “initiating a boycott” to vote.