Hong Kong's legislature 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-ruled city
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.
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. Following months of anti-government protests in 2019, China imposed the national security law to criminalise what it considers subversion, secessionism, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with penalties of up to life imprisonment.Legislators vote for the third reading of the District Councils Bill, which pertains to electoral overhaul, at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, China July 6, 2023.
Although Hong Kong's district councils 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."We must plug the institutional loopholes and completely exclude those anti-China and destabilising forces," he said in a statement.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Chinese rush to buy Hong Kong insurance, dollars as confidence cracks, yuan weakensChinese investors are rushing offshore to make dollar deposits and buy Hong Kong insurance in a signal domestic confidence is languishing and that the ailing yuan faces more pressure.
Read more »
Hong Kong slashes directly elected seats in local polls, further reducing democracyHong Kong's legislature unanimously voted on Thursday to overhaul district level elections by drastically reducing directly elected seats, a move critics said removed some of the last vestiges of democratic freedoms in the China-ruled city.
Read more »
Hong Kong leader says eight overseas activists will be 'pursued for life'Hong Kong activist Anna Kwok, who has fled to the United States, said she was not surprised that the Hong Kong government put out arrest warrants for her and seven other activists for alleged national security offenses
Read more »
Advocates call for Hong Kong govt stablecoin to compete with Tether and USD CoinWang Yang, Cai Wensheng, Lei Zhibin, and Wen Yizhou co-authored a paper arguing the HK government’s plan of encouraging private firms to issue stablecoins was “too conservative”.
Read more »
Australia PM says Hong Kong bounty on overseas activists 'unacceptable'Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday it was 'unacceptable' that Hong Kong has put bounties on two Australian residents who are among eight overseas democracy activists wanted under a national security law.
Read more »