HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong lawmakers on Thursday approved an amendment to a law to eliminate most directly elected seats in local district councils, the last major bodies of political representation elected by the public, shutting down new democratic challenges to the city.
The changes include cutting the proportion of directly elected seats in the municipal organisation from 90% currently to almost 20% — even below the level when these bodies were first created in the 1980s, when Hong Kong was ruled by Britain.
The rest of the 470 seats will be filled by members appointed by the chief executive, chairmen of rural committees and others elected by local committees full of pro-establishment personalities.
Hong Kong police have arrested four men they accused of providing financial support to people who fled overseas and are involved in activities that endanger national security, escalating a high-profile crackdown on dissidents in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticized the Hong Kong authorities for their persecution of two pro-democracy activists living in Australia.
Hong Kong’s leader says eight pro-democracy activists now living in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia will be prosecuted for life for alleged crimes against national security.
Hong Kong police have offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of eight pro-democracy activists who fled overseas and are accused of violating the territory’s tough National Security Law.
All incoming councilors will be vetted by a committee to ensure “patriots” govern Hong Kong. A performance monitoring mechanism will be introduced to “sanction misconduct” by councillors.
The electoral review reflects Beijing’s growing control over Hong Kong after months of mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. In 2021, Hong Kong amended its electoral laws for his legislature, drastically reducing the public’s ability to vote and increasing the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers making decisions for the city.
Analysts said the latest amendments would marginalize public participation in city affairs, warning the government could further lose popular support.
In the past, elections for the city’s district council seats typically attracted little international attention, as councilors mainly dealt with municipal affairs, such as organizing construction projects and ensuring that public facilities were in good working order. order
But the town halls became important after the city’s pro-democracy camp won a decisive victory in the latest poll at the height of anti-government protests in 2019. At the time, the camp hailed his strong gains in the race as a “victory” for the people of Hong Kong.
Many pro-democracy district councilors resigned in 2021 after the authorities introduced an oath requiring them to swear loyalty to the city. Their mass resignations followed media reports that councilors could have to pay their salaries if they are later disqualified from office, which the government had neither confirmed nor denied at the time.
Critics saw the requirement as part of a broader crackdown on the pro-democracy movement following the enactment of the 2020 National Security Act.
Resignations and other disqualifications had left about a third of the 479 councilors still working, according to the government.
The bill was unanimously approved by the city’s legislature on Thursday, as most lawmakers are largely pro-Beijing. Many lawmakers, including Regina Ip, expressed their disapproval of the actions of some pro-democracy councilors elected in 2019.
“The councils became more and more radicalized and became a very big resistance that hinders the government’s work and many measures aimed at improving people’s livelihoods,” said Ip, a leading member of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Cabinet.
But John Burns, emeritus professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, said the drastic cut in the number of directly elected seats would undermine a legal and legitimate way for people to engage with authority.
“Hong Kong has never been a democracy,” he said. “The changes, however, push back political participation, which could further undermine Hong Kong people’s support for the government.”
Kenneth Chan, a professor of government and international studies at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the review was aimed at installing pro-government representatives through highly controlled methods.
“District councils are expected to degenerate into echo chambers for the administration and will no longer serve as a key platform for grassroots democratic reforms,” Chan said.
