BEIJING/HONG KONG — China finalized a sweeping overhaul of
Hong Kong's electoral system on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported,
drastically curbing democratic representation in the city as authorities seek
to ensure "patriots" rule the global financial hub.
اضافة اعلان
The measures are part of Beijing's efforts to consolidate
its increasingly authoritarian grip over its freest city following the
imposition of a national security law in June, which critics see as a tool to
crush dissent.
The changes would see the number of directly elected representative’s
fall and the number of Beijing-approved officials rise in an expanded legislature.
As part of the shake-up, a powerful new vetting committee
will monitor candidates for public office and work with national security
authorities to ensure they are loyal to Beijing.
Maria Tam, a senior Hong Kong politician who works with
China's parliament on matters relating to Hong Kong's mini-constitution told
Reuters the Committee for Safeguarding National Security would help the new
vetting committee to "understand the background of all of the candidates,
specifically whether they had complied with the National Security Law."
Chinese authorities have said the shake-up is aimed at
getting rid of "loopholes and deficiencies" that threatened national
security during anti-government unrest in 2019 and to ensure only
"patriots" run the city.
The measures are the most significant overhaul of Hong
Kong's political structure since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and alter
the size and composition of the legislature and electoral committee in favor of
pro-Beijing figures.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and several city
officials, including the Secretary for Justice, all issued separate statements
praising China's move.
"I firmly believe that by improving the electoral
system and implementing "patriots administering Hong Kong", the
excessive politicization in society and the internal rift that has torn Hong
Kong apart can be effectively mitigated," Lam said.
Unopposed
The number of directly elected representatives will drop to
20 from 35 and the size of the legislature increase to 90 seats from 70 currently,
Xinhua said, while an election committee responsible for selecting the chief
executive will increase from 1,200 members to 1,500.
The representation of 117 community-level district councilors
in the election committee would also be scrapped and the six district council
seats in the Legislative Council will also go, according to Xinhua.
District councils are the city's only fully democratic
institution, and almost 90 percent of the 452 district seats are controlled by
the democratic camp after a 2019 vote. They mostly deal with grassroots issues
such as public transport links and garbage collection.
The electoral restructuring was endorsed unopposed by the
National People's Congress Standing Committee, at the apex of China's
legislature, Xinhua reported.
Beijing had promised universal suffrage as an ultimate goal
for Hong Kong in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which also guarantees
the city wide-ranging autonomy not seen in mainland China, including freedom of
speech.
Critics say the changes move Hong Kong in the opposite
direction, leaving the democratic opposition with the most limited space it has
ever had since the handover, if any at all.
Since the security law was imposed, most pro-democracy
activists and politicians have found themselves ensnared by it, or arrested for
other reasons.
Some elected legislators have been disqualified, with
authorities calling their oaths insincere, while scores of democracy activists
have been driven into exile.
All legislature candidates, including direct elected seats,
will also need nominations from each of the five subsectors in the election
committee, according to Xinhua, making it more difficult for pro-democracy
candidates to take part in the election.
"They want to increase the safety factor so that in the
future, the democrats will not only get very limited seats, if they are not
liked by Beijing, they won't even be able to run in the election," said
Ivan Choy, a senior lecturer at Chinese University of Hong Kong's department of
government and public administration.
He expects the democratic candidates to get at most
one-sixth, or around 16 seats, in Legco after the reforms.
.jpg)
.jpg)
