World News | Hong Kong to cut elected seats, blow to democracy

HONG KONG, May 3 (AP) — Hong Kong’s leaders stepped up a campaign Tuesday to head off further democratic challenges, unveiling plans to abolish most directly-elected seats in local district councils, the last major public choice. Political representative body.

Chief executive John Lee said the proposed changes would reduce the percentage of directly elected seats in municipal organizations to about 20 percent from the current level of about 90 percent. That’s even lower than when the institutions were first established in the 1980s, when Hong Kong came under British rule.

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The remaining 470 seats will be filled by government appointees, rural council chairmen and others chosen by local councils made up of many pro-establishment figures, he said.

“I disagree that the mere counting of electoral votes means democracy,” he said. “Different places have their own systems that have to take into account all the characteristics and all the elements of that place.”

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The planned electoral reforms are widely seen as part of Beijing’s efforts to tighten its grip on the former British colony, which was promised autonomy when it returned to China in 1997. Two years ago, Hong Kong had amended the election law of the legislature, which greatly reduced the influence of the public on Hong Kong. The ability to vote and increase the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers to make decisions for the city.

In the past, races for representation in urban districts have generally attracted little international attention, as councilors mainly deal with municipal matters, such as organizing construction projects and making sure public facilities are in order.

But their council came to the fore after the city’s Democratic camp won a landslide victory in the last polls of 2019, the height of anti-government protests.

Many pro-democracy district councilors eventually resigned in 2021 after the authorities made an oath request requiring them to swear an oath of allegiance to Hong Kong. Their en masse resigned following media reports that MPs might have to pay back their salaries if they were later disqualified from public office, something the government did not confirm or deny at the time.

Critics see the demand as part of a broader crackdown on the pro-democracy movement following mass protests and sweeping national security laws in 2020.

The resignations and other disqualifications had left just about one-third of the elected representatives still working in the councils, Lee said.

All incoming members would be vetted by a committee to ensure “patriots” were running Hong Kong, he said. Officials also plan to introduce a monitoring mechanism to investigate lawmakers whose performance “fails to meet public expectations”.

Law Kin-hee, chairman of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy faction, said the public would be disappointed by the government’s move to cut directly elected seats. He predicts that when potential candidates face so many constraints, fewer will be able to run.

The next district council elections are expected to be held later this year. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)