Hong Kong's legislative election on Sunday drew the second-lowest turnout rate on record, with voters choosing candidates under Beijing's "patriots only" rules in the aftermath of the city's deadliest fire in decades.

Beijing revamped Hong Kong's electoral system in 2021 following the city's huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests, and the first contest under those rules later that year saw a record low turnout of 30.2 percent.

This time, the figure was 31.9 percent, according to figures published online early Monday by the Registration and Electoral Office.

Sunday's race actually saw slightly fewer people casting their ballots -- just 1.3 million out of 4.1 million registered voters -- but the turnout percentage was higher due to a smaller overall voting population.

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