First Hong Kong election under revamped system to be largely uncontested

Henderson Land Development Co

13/08/2021 09:26

HONG KONG, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Pro-Beijing candidates are
running uncontested for most seats in a Hong Kong election
committee tasked with choosing the city's leader, with the
pro-democracy camp almost absent, government announcements
showed on Friday.
    The Sept. 19 vote for the committee is the first election
since China overhauled Hong Kong's electoral system in May to
ensure the former British colony is run by "patriots" loyal to
Beijing.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2LS04G
    After the one-week nomination period ended on Thursday, the
government said it had received just 1,056 nominations for the
980 seats open to competition.
    A new committee which can disqualify candidates is tasked by
law to work closely with Chinese security authorities to vet
contenders for the election committee as well as the leadership
election in 2022.
    The composition of the election committee is the latest blow
to the opposition movement which has seen scores of members
arrested, jailed or flee Hong Kong since Beijing imposed a
national security law on the city last year. 
    Membership of the committee for 117 community-level district
councillors dominated by democrats was scrapped and more than
500 seats designated for Chinese business, political and
interest groups were added.
    Representation from professional subsectors that
traditionally had a bigger pro-democracy presence, including
legal, education, social welfare, medical and health services,
was diluted by the addition of ex-officio members which reduced
the number of elected seats.
    Twenty-three of the 36 subsectors that are open for contest,
totalling about 600 seats, will not see any competition because
the number of candidates matched the number of seats, suggesting
coordination of nominations.
    
    CHANGE OF GUARD
    About 70% of the nominees were new faces who did not feature
in the last two polls for the committee, which will have 1,500
members instead of the previous 1,200, Reuters calculations
based on the election committee website showed.
    China had promised universal suffrage as an ultimate goal
for Hong Kong in its mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which
also states the city has wide-ranging autonomy from Beijing.
    Democracy campaigners and Western countries say the
political overhaul moves the city in the opposite direction,
leaving the democratic opposition with the most limited space it
has had since the handover in 1997.
    Many of the city's prominent tycoons, including Hong Kong's
richest man Li Ka-shing, will not be on the election committee
for the first time, as Beijing seeks to rebalance power from big
conglomerates to small businesses. 
    Li, of Cheung Kong Holdings, together with other property
moguls, Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land, both 93, and Henry
Cheng, 74, of New World Development, withdrew from the race,
although their sons will retain the seats they already hold.
    The election committee will elect 40 seats in the revamped
Legislative Council in December, and choose a Hong Kong chief
executive in March, 2022.
    

 (Reporting by Clare Jim; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
 ((clare.jim@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2912 6653; Reuters
Messaging: clare.jim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))