A Hong Kong pro-democracy political group said they will not send any candidate to run in the upcoming election committee or the Legislative Council election, citing the loss of right to nominate as well as of a fair and just electoral system after Beijing introduced major changes to the city’s electoral system.

The League of Social Democrats is the first one to boycott the elections under Hong Kong’s electoral overhaul. It also calls on other pro-democracy parties to boycott the polls.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the LSD criticized the shortcomings of the revamped system, which include setting up a new candidate eligibility review committee, reducing the number of popularly elected lawmakers to a new low, restoring the domineering power of the election committee.

Among the sweeping changes, the rule that LegCo hopefuls need to secure nomination from all five sectors of the election committee is the most difficult to accept, the LSD said. The vetting mechanism deprives citizens of the right of civic nomination, which is contradictory to the universal suffrage Hongkongers have insisted on fighting for over the years.

“If we accept the vetting of candidates by Beijing, isn’t it equivalent to treating our voters as an election tool?” The statement wrote, “If the election results have already been pre-decided by the authorities, then the meaning of an election is gone and we will not take part in it.”

Most of the pro-democracy activists who took part in last summer’s unofficial primaries for the Legislative Council election have been remanded in custody, including the group’s former lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung and district councilor Jimmy Sham. Democrats who decide to run in the upcoming elections would risk losing support from the public, it added.

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