Hong Kong: Parliament approves electoral reform enacted by China

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Chinese flags fly in Hong Kong at a pro-Chinese demonstration in 2020

Photo: TYRONE SIU / REUTERS

China is expanding its influence on Hong Kong politics.

In the Special Administrative Region, parliament has passed a radical change in the electoral law that will give Beijing even greater control over parliamentary elections.

40 MPs voted for the new electoral law prescribed by China, two MPs voted against.

The change in the law makes it difficult for opposition candidates to enter parliament.

There is a general election in December

The new electoral law was signed by China's President Xi Jinping in March.

This enables Beijing to further suppress the pro-democracy Hong Kong opposition.

The new electoral law is to be applied for the first time in the parliamentary elections in December.

The new electoral law stipulates that a large majority of MPs will be selected by a committee loyal to Beijing.

Every candidate will be checked by national security in the future.

In addition, the number of directly elected candidates will be reduced from 35 to 20. The number of seats in parliament, on the other hand, will be increased from 70 to 90.

Mass protests that lasted for months

"The changes will expand the balanced and orderly political participation in Hong Kong," said Minister for Constitutional Affairs in the Special Administrative Region, Erick Tsang.

They protected the "fundamental interests" of Hong Kong.

Opponents of the changes ignored "the chaos" of the past few years.

There were months of mass protests in Hong Kong in 2019 against Beijing's growing influence.

In response, the Chinese leadership passed the controversial so-called security law last year, which allows the Hong Kong authorities to crack down on any activity they believe threatens China's national security.

More than 100 known pro-democracy activists have been arrested under the law since then, including opposition MPs.

USA and EU criticize the reform

The changes to the electoral law that have now been adopted had already been sharply condemned abroad in March.

The EU and the US complained about a blatant violation of Hong Kong's autonomy rights, which the former British crown colony had been granted when it was handed over to China in 1997.

A joint declaration by the EU foreign ministers who wanted to criticize the reform failed at the beginning of May because of the Hungarian veto.

EU diplomats suspected that Chinese investments in the country could be a reason.

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) criticized Hungary's stance as "incomprehensible".

lau / AFP