Hong Kong’s Legislative Council yesterday unanimously voted to overhaul district-level elections by drastically reducing the number of directly elected seats, which critics said would further shrink democratic freedom in the Chinese territory.
Under the amendment, only 88 seats would be directly elected by the public, down from 452 in an election that saw a landslide victory for the democracy camp in 2019.
The overall number of seats would also be reduced from 479 to 470. No date has been set for the next election.
The amendment would further stifle the remnants of democratic opposition in the former British colony, where a National Security Law that China imposed in 2020 has already led to the arrest of former lawmakers and district councilors, and the breakup of several political parties.
Candidates who want to run in the next election will have to pass a national security background check and secure at least three nominations from several committees, effectively barring most democracy advocates from running.
“The pro-democracy camp are obviously gone in the election,” said Lemon Wong (黃丹晴), vice chairperson of Tuen Mun District Council and one of the few remaining democrats.
“I will try my best to enjoy the remaining six months of my career as a councilor, because it would be difficult to have a next time,” Wong said.
Following months of protests against the government in 2019, China imposed the National Security Law to criminalize what it considers subversion, secessionism, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with penalties of up to life imprisonment.
Although Hong Kong’s district councils (DC) are mainly focused on community issues, such street sweeping and bus stops, Beijing and Hong Kong authorities say they want to ensure only “patriots” can be elected to them.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) hailed the amendment as an important milestone in improving governance.
“We must plug the institutional loopholes and completely exclude those anti-China and destabilizing forces,” he said in a statement.
“This legislative exercise implements the principle of ‘patriots administering Hong Kong’ ... DCs are firmly in the hands of patriots,” he said.
In other news, Hong Kong police yesterday arrested a man suspected of links to democracy activists based abroad, picking him up at the international airport a day after arresting four others for national security offenses.
Police had issued arrest warrants days earlier for eight prominent overseas-based activists, including UK-based former Demosisto member Nathan Law (羅冠聰), and offered bounties of HK$1 million (US$127,866) for information leading to any arrest.
Citing unnamed sources, media in Hong Kong connected the four men arrested on Wednesday to an online platform known as “Punish Mee” that was allegedly used to provide financial aid to the eight wanted activists overseas.
“Police do not rule out the possibility that more arrests will be made,” the police said in a statement yesterday that withheld the name of the latest man arrested, but gave his age as 24 years old.
One source with direct knowledge of the matter identified him as Calvin Chu Yan-ho, a former member of Demosisto.
The pro-democracy group was disbanded in 2020, hours after China imposed the National Security Law in Hong Kong. Its former leader, Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), was arrested in January 2021, and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for participating in an unofficial primary election organized by democracy supporters.
Ivan Lam (林朗彥), a former Demosisto chairman, was reportedly among the four men arrested on Wednesday.
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