The changes include slashing the proportion of directly elected seats in the municipal-level organization being from some 90% currently to just about 20% when Hong Kong was ruled by Britain. -
The changes include slashing the proportion of directly elected seats in the municipal-level organization being from some 90% currently to just about 20% — even lower than the level when these bodies were first set up in the 1980s, when Hong Kong was ruled by Britain.
The electoral overhaul reflects Beijing’s increasing control over Hong Kong following months of mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. In 2021, Hong Kong amended its electoral laws for its legislature, drastically reducing the public’s ability to vote and increasing the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers making decisions for the city.
But the councils took on importance after the city’s pro-democracy camp won a landslide victory in the last poll at the height of the anti-government protests in 2019. The camp then hailed its strong gains in the race as a “victory” for the Hong Kong people. The resignations and other disqualifications had left about one-third of the 479 councilors still working, the government said.
But John Burns, an honorary professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, said the drastic cut in the number of directly elected seats would undermine a legal and legitimate way for the people to communicate with authority.
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