China Rewrites Hong Kong Election Rules to Keep Opponents Out

HONG KONG—China’s best lawmaking system rewrote electoral regulations for Hong Kong to give Beijing decisive handle above how the city chooses its leader and legislators, placing pro-establishment politicians firmly in cost of the previous British colony.

The adjustments, authorised Tuesday, will curtail democratic illustration in Hong Kong by slashing the share of specifically elected seats in the community legislature, even though giving unelected political bodies extra influence above the city’s governance. Neighborhood national-security officials will also get helpful veto electric power above election candidates, enabling authorities to bar opposition figures from elected workplace.

These measures formalized Beijing’s plans to tighten its grip on Hong Kong with electoral overhauls that assure only “patriots” can govern the Asian economical heart. China’s national legislature authorised the proposal all through its annual session this month, paving the way for senior lawmakers to finalize the specifics this 7 days.

Opposition teams say the electoral adjustments are portion of Beijing’s systematic erosion of quite a few rights and freedoms that Hong Kong citizens ended up promised for the fifty percent-century next Britain’s handover of the territory to Chinese rule in 1997.

Beijing has sought to crush dissent in Hong Kong because antigovernment protests brought on citywide chaos in 2019. Immediately after imposing a national-security legislation on the city in June, authorities have rounded up scores of pro-democracy figures and disqualified a number of opposition lawmakers.