In order to take full control of Hong Kong‘s political system and prevent Hong Kong people from freely electing legislators and the Chief Executive, Beijing has gone to great lengths to amend the Basic Law to rewrite the method for the selection of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive and Legislative Council, and will later drastically reduce the proportion of direct elections in the districts and create additional sectors for the Election Committee, so that Beijing can absolutely control the Legislative Council. Some scholars believe that the NPC’s decision to rewrite the rules of the Legislative Council elections will focus on the EC in future elections.
The newly amended Annex II of the Basic Law stipulates that the number of seats in the Legislative Council will increase from 70 to 90 after tomorrow, with 40 seats for the Election Committee, 30 seats for functional constituencies, and 20 seats for direct elections in the districts.
The most attention is paid to the “Election Committee”, which accounts for the largest proportion of seats. Among them, Annex II lists 27 new seats of representatives of mainland Hong Kong people’s groups, and abolished all the representatives of the District Council Election Committee, replaced by the District Zoning Committee, Crime Suppression Committee, Fire Prevention Committee, a total of 156 seats (see separate draft), these organizations are all appointed by the government.
In terms of the composition of the functional constituencies, Annex II lists a total of 28 constituencies, most of which are dealt with by “corporate voting”, while only 9 functional constituencies, such as the rural councils, legal, Education, accounting and other constituencies, will be elected by individual votes. In addition, the NPC has decided to overturn the 2012 political reform package, and the original District Council (First) and District Council (Second) seats, commonly known as the “Super District Council”, have been abolished.
The democratic elements are far less than in the colonial era
The number of directly elected districts will be changed to 10 districts, with two seats in each district, and the two candidates with the highest number of votes will be elected. Under the newly revised electoral system, the proportion of direct election is less than 23%, a record low since 1991, when direct election was introduced in Hong Kong. 30% of the Legislative Council was directly elected in 1991, and has since increased to a record high of 57% in 2012, while the proportion of direct election is only 22% in the future.
To become a member of the Legislative Council, one must first obtain enough nominations. Candidates for the EAC, functional constituencies or district direct elections are required to obtain nominations from at least two members in each of the five constituencies of the EAC. At the same Time, candidates for district-based direct elections must also obtain nominations from at least 100 voters in their constituencies.
Police National Security Division to check the eligibility of candidates for election
However, even if there are enough nominations, it does not mean that the “election” is smooth sailing, still have to face three hurdles. The National Security Division of the police has the authority to examine whether candidates meet the statutory requirements of upholding the Basic Law and pledging allegiance to the SAR. The CIRC issues a review opinion, which ultimately confirms the candidate’s eligibility. Candidates may not seek judicial review of the decision.
In addition, Annex II emphasizes that the SAR “should take measures to regulate the manipulation and sabotage of elections in accordance with the law,” meaning that any democratic coordination of primary elections or polls will become extinct.
Carrie Lam: the National Security Council decision is not subject to judicial review
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the government aims to submit to the Legislative Council in the middle of next month to amend the draft amendments to the electoral legislation, expecting the Legislative Council to complete its deliberations and pass by the end of May, and to redo the voter registration in June. She said Hong Kong will first hold the Election Committee subsector elections in September, the Legislative Council general election in December, and the Chief Executive election in March 2022.
Mrs. Lam said that the committee will be composed of several key officials of the SAR. Asked about the inadmissibility of judicial review of the committee’s decisions, she explained that the National Security Law states that the decisions of the NSC are not subject to judicial review, and therefore the CAC cannot be challenged by lawsuits, but candidates can still file election petitions if they are disqualified.
Beijing-controlled EC has a key role in the election
According to Associate Professor Ma Yue of CUHK’s Department of Political Science and Administration, the newly revised composition of the legislature shows that the NPC aims to screen candidates’ eligibility to stand for election and greatly reduce the proportion of direct elections in the legislature, which fundamentally changes the nature and function of the Legislative Council.
Ma Yue: “Direct election is no longer important, different political parties, if it is based on direct election, how many seats can get? The power is very limited. This also affects the pro-Beijing political parties to take the direct election route, it is obvious that the SAR government will respond to public opinion in the past, for fear of affecting the election of pro-Beijing parties. Next, the whole balance of power in the parliament will change, the mechanism of direct election is no longer important, and the influence of public opinion in the whole policy-making process will be greatly reduced.”
The influence of direct election in the parliament is no longer there, and Ma Yue believes that the Legislative Council will become a system dominated by the “Election Committee”, which will hold the right to nominate candidates for the Legislative Council election, questioning the election is more or less an “appointment” in disguise
Ma Yue: “more or less, the central government can control the 40 people to a large extent, the original parliamentary section, such as the influence of the Hong Kong business community will be greatly reduced, more than 10 seats in the traditional functional constituencies in the past, is the heavyweight of the Hong Kong business community, but from 70 seats to 90 seats, their proportion will also decline accordingly, I would say it is a reshuffle. So after that will see is the mechanism of the Election Committee, because there is the right to nominate, can elect the Chief Executive, etc., the influence is very large.”
Asked about the district direct election will be divided into 10 constituencies, Ma Yue believes that even if the composition of the district direct election how to be modified, can not see how the future section of the Parliament will be changed, because originally there are multiple screening.
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