Hong Kong’s chief executive election body to nominate and elect lawmakers as well
The Hong Kong committee that elects the city’s chief executive will get a new role that dominates the selection of local lawmakers as well, a top Chinese legislative official has announced.
To do so, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution the Basic Law will undergo amendments to annexes 1 and 2, but not to its main text, according to Wang Chen, vice chair of the state legislature, the National People’s Congress.
Beijing is seeking to reform and “improve” Hong Kong’s political system through the 1,200-strong election committee, which is currently tasked with picking only the chief executive.
The proposed changes would mainly focus on restructuring the committee, and giving it the authority to nominate all Hong Kong Legislative Council candidates and to elect a big proportion of them as lawmakers, Wang told delegates at the opening of the annual NPC session in Beijing on Friday.
Wang spoke of a need to improve the electoral system in Hong Kong, including the election of the chief executive and the formation of the Legislative Council, to ensure the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong.”
The scale and method of operation of the election committee had to be adjusted, he said.
The NPC vice chair gave a background introduction to his amendment proposal, explaining that chaos in the city due to an extradition bill in 2019 laid bare clear loopholes and shortcomings in the current electoral system. Some people were allowed to make use of district councils or their positions in public office to undermine the administration of the Hong Kong government, he said.
Earlier on Thursday night, NPC spokesperson Zhang Yesui told reporters that recent developments in Hong Kong showed the electoral system had to be improved to keep up with the times.
Planned reforms were set to provide a sound institutional guarantee for a full and accurate implementation of the governance principles of “one country, two systems” and “patriots administering Hong Kong,” Zhang said.
He added that the state legislature had the power, as well as the responsibility, “to make the decision on electoral reform at a constitutional level.”
“To keep up with the times” meant matching the current political situation, veteran current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said. He said that Beijing wanted to have an iron grip on the full governance of Hong Kong.
The move would totally destroy the city’s time-honored system, Lau told Apple Daily. He believed that the amendment details were not important, as the Beijing authorities could revise the laws anytime according to political developments, or if they found more loopholes in the future.
The ongoing session of the NPC will last for seven days, until March 11. Three of the meetings will involve full attendance of the nearly 3,000 delegates.
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