More than 100 neighborhood representatives will likely be axed from a 1,200-member body that elects Hong Kong’s next chief executive, in Beijing’s expected overhaul of the local political system, a delegate to the state legislature says.

Talk has been circulating about Beijing wanting to get rid of the 117 district councilor seats on the Election Committee that picks the chief executive, given most of the seats are held by democracy advocates.

Michael Tien, a Hong Kong delegate to the National People’s Congress, said that central authorities would discuss a shake-up of the city’s electoral system, including removing those seats, during its annual plenary session, due to start on Friday.

Tien’s revelation was confirmed by fellow Hong Kong delegate, Ip Kwok-him, and came after pro-Beijing heavyweight Rita Fan floated the same idea at the weekend.

The comments also coincided with Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office director Xia Baolong’s recent emphasis that the former British colony must be ruled by China’s patriots. Xia later said on Monday that he had heard opinions about establishing a mechanism to review the eligibility of individual electors on the election committee.

Tien was taking a radio interview when he said district council representation on the committee was too big and should be significantly reduced.

Another pro-Beijing lawmaker, Paul Tse, described the expected change as “regressive” reform, but added that in defense of the regime and the need to stabilize the Hong Kong political situation, such an overhaul was unavoidable.

The reform would inevitably reduce the representativeness of the chief executive election, Democratic Party chair Lo Kin-hei said.

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