Beijing passed the barrier-heavy Hong Kong election system, which is responsible for confirming the list of candidates first screened by the National Security Branch of the police force, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said, will be served by key officials of the Hong Kong government, stressing that it is not executive interference in the election, and there is no role conflict. She announced that the new Legislative Council election will be postponed to December this year, claiming that there is no intention to block the democratic camp from running, but Democratic Party Chairman Luo Jianxi said that the new system reduces the desire of democrats to run for office.
After the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress passed yesterday (30) to amend Annexes I and II of the Basic Law to reform Hong Kong’s electoral system, Chief Executive Carrie Lam held a press conference, saying that Hong Kong needs to amend more than 20 pieces of legislation for electoral reform, expecting the third reading to be completed and passed by the end of May, and voter registration to begin in June, so that the Election Committee subsector elections with expanded powers and numbers can be held in September, which is about two months earlier than the usual Election Committee However, the Legislative Council general election will be postponed to December from a date that has been postponed for one year to September this year, while the Chief Executive election will be held in March next year.
As for the composition of the Qualifications Committee (CAC), which is responsible for the candidates’ lists, the amendment of the NPCSC did not mention it, Mrs. Lam disclosed that the CAC will be served by several key officials; the National Security Division of the Police Department will conduct a review of the candidates in accordance with the “Hong Kong National Security Law” and hand over the results to the Beijing-based National Security Committee (NSC), and the CAC will, based on the NSC’s review letter, decide whether to disqualify the candidates. The decision to disqualify a candidate will be based on the NSC’s review letter, but the letter will not be made public and the decision of the NSC will not be subject to judicial review.
The process means that the NSC and some key officials will have the final say on who can run in the election, but Lam stressed that the qualification process is not new, but was previously the responsibility of the Returning Officer, and is now the responsibility of key officials who are not afraid of being “undercovered” or sanctioned by foreign countries and who have the trust of Beijing. She did not mention, however, that the RO’s decision is subject to challenge by election petition, while the CAC’s decision is final.
In addition, the NSC is chaired by the Chief Executive, and now she is vetting the CE election candidates and their opponents, whether there will be a conflict of interest, Mrs. Lam did not respond positively, only stressed that it is not up to her alone to decide who is eligible, the public has its own judgment. She also said that the National Security Division of the Police Department has the right to screen candidates, not too much power, because the National Security Division has the right to conduct anti-intervention investigations and national security review, staff and resources responsible for related work.
Democrats want to run for low new democrats call for every inch of land
In the face of the deliberate dilution of the proportion of democrats and the new election system with many hurdles, the Democratic Party Chairman Luo Jianxi believes that it will reduce the space for the democrats to run for office, and the desire of the democrats to run for office will also be reduced, but whether the Democratic Party will send someone to run for office must still be discussed. He is worried that the future parliament, can not reflect the views of the public, is not conducive to the development of Hong Kong. He explained that the deep-rooted conflict in Hong Kong is precisely from the system can not accurately and proportionally reflect the views of the public, resulting in social incidents of anti-amendment controversy, the future Legislative Council directly elected seats to 20 seats, so compressed public opinion will only make the problem more serious.
He also criticized that the Candidature Review Committee is composed of principal officials, that is, the executive body to review the legislature’s
This is not appropriate, plus the National Security Division of the police will also assist in the vetting, which is an even more shocking practice.
However, the self-proclaimed democrats but by the pan-democrats questioned and teased called the new democratic party chairman of the New Thinking Creation Party Tee Chi-yuen, this morning in a radio program criticized the new electoral system is a democratic retrogression, but still called on the democrats to run for election, said the democrats in the future Legislative Council can get up to more than 10 seats, and the Democratic Party is the most powerful in the democratic camp to fight for the most seats, if the Democratic Party can cooperate with other democrats, I believe there will still be Certain results. He continued, the democratic camp can unite the civil power after obtaining the seats, rational and pragmatic fight, I believe there is still influence in the parliament, the Beijing government also hopes that the parliament can have a pluralistic voice, but if the democratic camp give up the parliamentary platform, it will shrink.
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