Beijing’s rubber-stamp parliament unanimously approved amendments to Annex 1 and 2 of the Basic Law for Hong Kong’s electoral overhaul on Tuesday.

The Legislative Council will expand from 70 to 90 seats, with 40 handpicked by the Election Committee, 30 in functional constituencies and 20 elected by the public, said Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.

All 117 district councilors will be ousted from the Election Committee, despite its expansion from 1,200 to 1,500 seats.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam stressed on Tuesday morning that the sweeping changes serve to establish a political structure that upholds the “one country, two systems” framework and ensure only patriots can administer Hong Kong.

She dismissed concerns that the stringent vetting mechanism and higher nomination thresholds would eliminate the democratic representation in the city’s politics.

“For people who hold different political beliefs, who are more inclined towards more democracy, or who are more conservative, who belong to the left or belong to the right, as long as they meet this very fundamental and basic requirement [of being loyal to the government], I don’t see why they could not run for election,” said Lam.

She added that her administration will spare no effort in spearheading relevant changes to local legislation as well as public education for people to “recognize the necessity and urgency of such improvements.”

“There’s a lot of work to be done and I’m prepared to explain in more details later on,” she added, who is meeting the press again at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

In separate statements, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung and Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng also voiced support for the NPCSC’s decision.

Veteran democrat and former lawmaker Emily Lau blasted the decision as a retrogression of democracy and a collapse of the city’s electoral system. The overhaul signals Beijing’s lack of trust in Hong Kong voters and the government can only be filled by patriots handpicked by the Chinese government, Lau said.

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