Chinese leaders on Tuesday endorsed a sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system, slashing its number of directly elected seats.
The move ensures a majority of the city’s lawmakers are selected by a reliably pro-Beijing committee to ensure their loyalty to the mainland and entrench only “patriotic” figures inpositions of power.
The new measures, which bypassed Hong Kong’s legislature and were imposed directly by Beijing, are the latest move aimed at quashing the city’s democracy movement after huge protests.
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, President Xi Jinping signed presidential orders to promulgate the amended annexes although there still is some uncertainty with residents on what the new law implies.
However giving a breakdown of what the new measures included, Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to China’s parliament said under the new law, Hong Kong’s legislature will be expanded from 70 to 90 seats.
Tam said Only 20 of those seats will now be directly elected, down from 35, while the majority — 40 — will be chosen by a reliably pro-Beijing committee.
He said anyone standing for election will also have to be vetted for their political views.
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