A "patriots only" district election in Hong Kong that barred opposition democrats from the ballot sheet amid a national security squeeze had a record low voter turnout of 27.5% as many voters spurned what was seen as an undemocratic poll. The sharp slide in turnout since the last such election in 2019 comes after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law that has been used to clamp down on dissent, and overhauled the electoral system to shut out democrats and other liberals. For this election, directly elected seats were slashed by nearly 80%, while all candidates were required to undergo national security background checks and secure nominations from two pro-government committees. At least three pro-democracy and non pro-establishment groups, including moderates, and even some pro-Beijing figures failed to meet those thresholds.