Hong Kong legislature passes amendments to electoral laws

Hong Kong's legislature passed amendments to electoral laws on Thursday, wrapping up the local legislation of improving the financial hub's electoral system.

The Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Bill 2021 was approved in its third reading by the Legislative Council of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with 40 votes in favor and two against, after it was first brought to lawmakers on April 14.

Under the law, a new vetting committee empowered to disqualify candidates will work with national security authorities to ensure those standing are patriotic. "These 600-or-so pages of the legislation come down to just a few words: patriots ruling Hong Kong," said lawmaker Peter Shiu.

The number of seats in Hong Kong's legislature will be expanded to 90. Forty seats will be filled by an election committee, which is also responsible for choosing the chief executive.

Most of the changes were announced by China's top legislature in March, though Hong Kong authorities later contributed further details, such as redrawing constituency boundaries and criminalizing calls for ballots to be left blank.

Lawmakers lauded the bill during the debate for the last two days, saying that reforms would prevent those not loyal to Hong Kong from running for office. Some pointed out that multiple bills that impact people's livelihoods have been passed with more ease this year compared to in 2020, when opposition lawmakers would at times filibuster or behave disruptively during meetings to stall the passage of bills that they disagreed with.

Hong Kong is expected to hold elections of the Election Committee and the LegCo on September 19 and December 19 this year.