China approves plans to overhaul Hong Kong elections 

The National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, passed a resolution to reconstruct Hong Kong’s electoral system yesterday to ensure the city is administered only by “people who love the country and love Hong Kong.”
The nine-article resolution was ratified by an almost-unanimous vote — with 2,895 votes in favor, zero votes against, and one abstention — yesterday afternoon, which was the last day of China’s annual parliamentary meetings, Two Sessions.
The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council pledged to firmly support and implement a decision on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special.
The approved proposal heralds an imminent overhaul in Hong Kong’s electoral system.
China’s state-run news agency Xinhua released a statement yesterday following the ballot, confirming that the Election Committee responsible for electing the city’s Chief Executive (CE) next year will be composed of 1,500 members. The change translates to an addition of 300 seats from the previous 1,200 members.
The Election Committee will be expanded from the current four sectors to five sectors, each composed of 300 members. The new fifth sector will be made up of Hong Kong deputies to the NPC, Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and representatives of Hong Kong members of related national organizations — who are deemed China’s loyalists.
The other four sectors, namely the industrial, commercial and financial sectors; the professional sector grassroots, labour, religious and other sectors; and Legislative Council (LegCo) members and representatives of district organizations, will continue to stay at 300 members each.
The bar for the CE election will also be lifted. A candidate running for CE election would need to garner at least 188 nominations from the Election Committee, compared to the 150 nominations adopted by the current system. Each candidate must secure at least 15 votes from each of the five sectors.
Apart from the above shake-ups, the number of seats at the LegCo, Hong Kong’s legislature, will be increased from 70 to 90 seats in each term — who will be elected via the Election Committee, functional constituencies and geographical constituencies through direct elections.
A new watchdog body, responsible for “reviewing and confirming the qualifications” of candidates for the Election Committee, LegCo, and the CE, will also be established to ensure all candidates conform to requirements warranted by the central government.
To this end, the NPC Standing Committee will amend Annex I and Annex II in Hong Kong‘s basic law — which stipulate the selecting methods for the city’s CE and LegCo members, respectively.
Meanwhile, the 117 seats within the Election Committee elected by district councilors, dominated by the city’s democratic party after the 2019 polls, are expected to be dismissed, according to South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The sweeping amendments to the electoral system, some critics said, are expected to bear greater clout to suppress opposition voices in town, SCMP stated.
In Xinhua’s statement, the amendments are to “improve” the city’s electoral system, ensuring it stays in line with the principles of “One country, two systems” and the city to be managed by patriots.
Before the passage of the resolution, Hong Kong’s CE Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-
ngor stressed in a press briefing that the reform is a “timely, lawful and constitutional” move, and Hong Kong would still head towards a “greater democracy” after the transformation. She also rebutted that the shake-up is intended to eradicate the opposition camp.
“The Macau SAR Government resolutely supports and backs the passing, today, of a legal proposal at the National People’s Congress (NPC) on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong SAR,” Macau’s government released a statement yesterday in support of the approved resolution.
Earlier, Macau’s Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng also declared his full support for the electoral reform in an interview with Chinese media during the Two Sessions. He stressed that Macau has had Article 23 of the Macau Basic Law in place since 2009, which is essential to safeguard national security and shield against any foreign interference in Macau.
On March 5, Wang Chen, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, first announced the draft proposal to reform Hong Kong’s electoral sytem, stressing the intention is to rectify the “loopholes and deficiencies” in the existing electoral system, and to prevent any further “rioting and turbulence” in Hong Kong.
Ever since, the decision has sparked diverse opinions from countries and cities worldwide.
Earlier, the city’s 47 opposition figures were charged with subversion under the national security law, which came into effect in Hong Kong last June. They were all involved in an unofficial election which authorities associated with an objective to overthrow the city’s government.