Number of registered electors in Hong Kong drops for fifth year to 4.12 million

The total number of registered electors in Hong Kong’s geographical constituencies has dropped for a fifth consecutive year to 4.12 million, while the tally of newly registered voters climbed to its highest level since 2021.According to figures released by the Registration and Electoral Office on Saturday, the 4.12 million eligible voters for geographical constituencies in the 2026 provisional register marked a year-on-year drop of 24,400 electors, or 0.59 per cent.The figure represented a decline of 347,300, or 7.8 per cent, compared with the 2021 peak of 4.47 million electors in the provisional register.In the same year, Beijing overhauled Hong Kong’s electoral system under the “patriots ruling Hong Kong” principle, removing opposition through stringent vetting and reducing direct seats. No traditional opposition parties ran in the December 2021 or the December 2025 Legislative Council elections.Despite the overall decline, new voter registration applications surged 78 per cent year on year to 64,900 this year, marking the highest number since 2021.The number of new voter registrations rose sharply from 400 in 2021 to 35,800 in 2022, before fluctuating between a low of 18,900 in 2024 and more than 30,000 in 2023 and 2025.