Hong Kong: Chinese parliament backs plan to ‘improve’ elections

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Members of the National People’s Congress in Beijing voted 2,895 in favor of the proposal, with no votes against and one abstention.

The adoption of the “draft decision” was considered almost inevitable after the Chinese government announced plans to overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system earlier this month. Voting for the NPC is largely considered ceremonial, and parliament is not known to vote against the legislation introduced by the country’s leaders.

The stated purpose of the draft changes, which came on the last day of the annual meeting, is to ensure that only “patriots” rule Hong Kong, a definition that Chinese officials have made clear requires not only loyalty to the country, but also loyalty to it. the Communist Party.

“When we talk about patriotism, we’re not talking about the abstraction of loving a cultural or historical China, but rather about loving the currently existing People’s Republic of China led by the Chinese Communist Party,” says Song Ru’an , deputy commissioner of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong, told reporters in a briefing this week about the change in law.

“Patriots must respect the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.

The decision includes a plan to change the size and composition of the city’s legislature, increasing the number of seats from 70 to 90, reducing the overall percentage of democratically elected officials.

The Electoral Committee, a body currently responsible for selecting the city’s chief executive, will be expanded from 1,200 to 1,500 members, and will have the power to propose candidates for the legislature, as well as the power to nominate about third of the members. seats of the body. The remaining third will be occupied by so-called functional constituencies, chosen by trade and industrial bodies.

Last week, NPC spokesman Zhang Yesui said the 2019 unrest, in which Hong Kong was shaken by often violent protests against the government, “showed that the electoral system needs to be improved” to ensure that “patriots rule”.

In the wake of the turmoil, pro-democracy candidates won a landslide in local elections and were expected to build on this achievement in parliamentary elections scheduled for September 2020.

However, those elections were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the government has since taken steps to prosecute dozens of prominent pro-democracy politicians for running a primary in the run-up to the original election date.

Prosecutors allege the opposition aimed to secure enough seats to block the government budget and possibly force the president to resign, a plan previously in line with the city’s constitution but has since been in violation of a national security law imposed on the government. city ​​last year by Beijing.

Should they avoid the potential decade or more in prison that the law provides for those found guilty of “subversion,” the activists and former lawmakers who are being prosecuted will likely find it difficult to get back into politics under the law. new requirements.

Last year, several candidates had already been banned from office by returning officers on the basis of an alleged lack of patriotism or alleged violation of the national security law, which also criminalized “secession” and “collusion with foreign forces”.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said this week that “there is no so-called international standard for democracy. Any democracy must look at the appropriate context of that particular country, or place.”

“We are improving the electoral system by ensuring that whoever runs and governs Hong Kong in the future is someone who loves the country, who loves Hong Kong,” she added.

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