Hong Kong legislative council elections, polls kick off Sunday
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As a response to China’s new national security law, the Hong Kong police restrict access to the street of the central Mongkok neighbourhood.
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Hong Kong holds elections for the city’s legislature on Sunday — the first for the Legislative Council since the central government in Beijing led an overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral processThis year.
CNBC interviewed an analyst to predict less interest in this year’s polls, due to narrower choices. As part of the electoral reform, amendments were made that will result in fewer elected representatives and more Beijing-approved officials.
Kurt Tong is a partner in The Asia Group and expects “rather lower” voter turnout.
He said that “Really, the options are very narrowed for voters” and stated this on CNBC’s SquawkBox Asia Friday.
“The election’s character has significantly changed from five years ago, when it was clear that the vote for the legislature could have significant impact on the direction and governance of the city. Tong said that this doesn’t appear to be true now.
The new electoral system has seen the number of legislative seats rise from 70 to 90. The number of elected directly has decreased.
Half of the Council members were previously directly elected by Hong Kongers. The new rules apply. about a fifth of them will be.
The following are some examples Election Committee that previously held only limited powers will now hand-pick almost half the Council’s representatives outright, and screen anyone who wants to run for the other seats.
Process criticism
CNBC’s Henry Tang, who is a standing committee member at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), argued on Friday that electoral reforms are an important step in the direction of democracy. China’s most important political advisory body, the CPPCC.
His question was about whether Hong Kong had lost autonomy due to the decrease in directly elected seats.
According to the ex-chief secretary for administration of Hong Kong, “The democratic process in Hong Kong is one step further,” he told Street Signs Asia on Friday. First, there are now 90 members to the Legislative Council instead of 70. Because we are more inclusive and diverse, the composition has been altered.”
Tang was the ex-financial secretary of Hong Kong and explained that candidates come from “many different backgrounds.”
— Ted Kemp from CNBC contributed to the report.
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