Hong Kong’s legislature unanimously backs bill to revamp district councils, reducing directly elected seats to just 19 per cent; EU hits out in response
- Proportion of directly elected representatives to be reduced from nearly 95 per cent to 19 per cent; EU says decision raises ‘serious questions’ about democracy in city
- Candidates will also be required to pass national security vetting and secure nominations from Beijing loyalist district-level committees
Hong Kong’s legislature has unanimously backed a bill that will slash the number of directly elected seats on district councils, completing an overhaul of the city’s electoral system in line with Beijing’s “patriots-only” governance principle.
But the European Union hit out at the legislation and said it went against a commitment to democratic representation set out in the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
Beijing, however, argued the overhaul would get the municipal bodies back on the “right track” after they were used by “anti-China factions” as a way to disrupt the running of the city.
“[They] made use of the loopholes in the system to enter district councils during the 2019 social unrest which severely disrupted the government’s work, challenged the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle as well as threatened national security and Hong Kong’s stability,” a spokesman for the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Office said.
“[The overhaul] will ensure the city’s constitutional order.”
The District Councils (Amendment) Bill 2023, introduced by the government in May, will come into force on July 10 and paves the way for elections by the end of this year.
