BEIJING – China on Thursday approved a drastic review of electoral rules for Hong Kong that would likely prevent many pro-democracy politicians from competing in the elections, cementing Beijing’s control over the territory.
The National People’s Congress, a legislature controlled by the Communist Party of China, voted almost unanimously to give Beijing’s partisans more power to choose Hong Kong’s local leader as well as members of his legislature. The decision is based on a comprehensive national security law for Hong Kong, imposed last year after months of protests, which authorities used to crack down on opposition in the former British colony.
Prime Minister Li Keqiang said at his annual press conference that the new legislation was necessary to ensure that “patriots” governed the territory. But critics say the new electoral system will put an end to the already limited democracy that Hong Kong enjoyed after its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Here’s what we know about the changes.
Beijing will have even more say over who leads Hong Kong.
So far, Hong Kong’s chief executive has been chosen by a 1,200-member electoral committee dominated by Beijing allies. This allowed China to choose leaders it trusted.
But a wave of support for the democracy movement in the territory during massive protests in 2019 raised the possibility that the opposition could garner a majority of the votes to prevent Beijing from being chosen.
Beijing plans to add another 300 seats to the committee, which could allow more seats to be allocated to its allies. Congress also imposed a new rule that would likely prevent Democrats from getting on the ballots of the Electoral Committee. To be nominated, a candidate will now need at least some support from each of the committee’s five main groups. Beijing will now have a chance to form a group entirely of its supporters, which would block pro-democracy nominees.
These measures are likely to deprive advocates of democracy with a strong voice when the committee votes early next year to choose the Hong Kong leader. The current chief executive, Carrie Lam, can run for re-election, but has not yet said whether she will.
Candidates deemed “unfair” would be eliminated.
Beijing will also empower the Electoral Committee to directly appoint some members of the Hong Kong legislature. For many, this is a regression, as the committee lost the authority to appoint lawmakers several years after Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty under British rule.
“I think, in general, this is an effective, fast and hard-line type of reverse democratization package,” said Sonny Lo, a political analyst in Hong Kong. “The pro-democracy forces, even if they manage to win all directly elected seats, will be destined to be a permanent minority.”
Half of the seats in the legislature are currently chosen by direct elections and the other half by so-called functional constituents: various professions, business groups and other special interests. Until recently, Democrats occupied about two dozen seats and often used their presence to protest against the usurpation of the autonomy of the territory by China and to obstruct some measures of the local government.
Ms. Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said the changes would prevent dissenting politicians from disrupting the legislature, known as LegCo.
“We will be able to solve the problem of LegCo making everything political in recent years and effectively dealing with the reckless movements or internal cracks that have divided Hong Kong,” she said.
Beijing ordered an expansion of the legislature from 70 to 90 seats. It was not informed how many of these seats would be nominated directly by the electoral committee.
The congress also said that the Hong Kong government would establish a separate committee to examine candidates looking to run for the legislature or the chief executive. This process aims to eliminate anyone who could be considered disloyal to Beijing.
It is ‘a sad change’, say the Democrats.
Even before the legislation came into force, the Beijing-backed government in Hong Kong acted quickly to extinguish the opposition.
Many activists have been arrested or arrested on charges linked to national security law, including Joshua Wong; Martin Lee, known as the “father of democracy” in Hong Kong; and Benny Tai, a law scholar. Their voice has been significantly reduced.
Pro-democracy activists warned that changes to the electoral law would mean a coup de grace for the territory’s limited voting rights.
Lo Kin-hei, the chairman of the Democratic Party and one of the few prominent opposition figures who are not in custody, called the election changes “a sad decision for Hong Kong”.
“They should, in fact, make the Legislative Council more receptive to the voice of the people, rather than suppressing the voice of the people, as is their proposal now,” said Lo.
“I believe that in the future these legislative councilors will be less and less representative of the people of Hong Kong and will be just some legalists who can do nothing and who cannot represent the people of Hong Kong in any way,” he said.
Last month, officials accused 47 people – many of them renowned democracy activists – of conspiring to commit subversion.
His crime in the eyes of the police was his role in holding primary elections designed to help identify pro-democracy candidates for the legislative elections that were originally scheduled for last September. The government postponed these elections for a year, citing the pandemic, and suggested that a new postponement may be necessary while the new electoral law is drafted and implemented.
Keith Bradsher reported from Beijing, and Chris Buckley from Sydney, Australia. Austin Ramzy contributed with reports from Hong Kong. Liu Yi, Albee Zhang and Claire Fu contributed research.