Under the amendment bill, only 88 seats would be directly elected by the public, down from 452 seats in an election that saw a landslide victory by the democracy camp in 2019.
HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s legislature unanimously voted on Thursday, July 6, 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.
Lemon Wong, the vice chairperson of Tuen Mun District Council and one of the few remaining democrats told Reuters that the changes meant “the pro-democracy camp are obviously gone in the election.” Candidates who want to run in the election will need to pass a national security background check and secure at least three nominations from several committees, effectively barring most opposition democracy advocates from running.
The city leader, John Lee, said in May that they “must plug all the loopholes in the system to prevent the District Councils from becoming a platform for black riots, Hong Kong independence and mutual destruction”.
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