Hong Kong's upcoming election is less about electing, and more about selecting.
The Chinese government is crossing out the candidates it doesn’t like.
For example, these opposition politicians were elected to the legislative council in 2016.
Now they, along with others, are either in jail or in exile.
And the rest?
They’re not allowed to run because they’re
not considered “patriots” - a new rule brought in by the authorities.
If you then look at more domestic discussions and messages from Beijing to especially in
the Hong Kong society, then it's quite clear that being a patriot
in Hong Kong also means to be supportive of Chinese Communist Party leadership not only
over China but also increasingly over daily lives, society and politics in Hong Kong.
So being a patriot also means being loyal to the Chinese Communist Party to a large extent.
And to ensure that only so-called “patriots” can oversee Hong Kong, Beijing has imposed a
massive overhaul of the electoral system. All candidates must be approved by a new
seven-member vetting committee and have to pass a screening by the National Security Police.
After the change of the electoral systems, the elections upcoming will be totally illegitimate.
It has turned into, I mean, the parliament to be elected would have turned into a total rubber
stamp of Beijing, with no democratic elements in it at all. And what it does and the legislation
that it's going to go into, examines or deliberate will be one without any scrutiny of critics.
Ted Hui was one of Hong Kong’s opposition lawmakers.
He’s now in exile in Australia, after Beijing imposed its controversial National Security
Law. Officials used this law to round up dozens of activists and political opponents.
For him, the electoral changes have stripped the legislature of its very purpose.
As a former legislator myself, looking back at the place where I worked and the chamber where
I spoke and then fought for democracy with my colleagues,
now it's no longer a place that belongs to the people.
And I know that the coming elections will turn this place, the legislative council, into a rubber
stamp of Beijing. That is quite sad to look at, to look back...to look at now. And so of course,
we (are) angered, like the Hong Kongers, how Beijing has ruined
our limited freedom and democracy in the council.
Hong Kong’s leader disagrees. Carrie Lam, who’s seen by many as Beijing’s puppet,
insists that the changes will ensure the city’s stability.
What we are now seeing are deficiencies in the electoral system which could be exploited by
people, including some external forces, and hence return politicians who may take advantage of their
position to undermine governance, or even to undermine national security and development
interests of the country. And this is only right
in terms of political ethics - how could one who is governing a place
not be patriotic to that country? It is inconceivable.
Hong Kong’s legislature has never been fully democratically elected.
Before the current changes,
half of the seats in the legislative council were elected by direct votes.
But now those seats have been further reduced.
Under a quarter of the 90 seats will be elected through universal suffrage.
Another 40 will be chosen by an Election Committee composed mostly of pro-Beijing,
pro-establishment business leaders. The remaining 30 seats will be elected
through so-called functional constituencies, which represent several industries and professions.
This expert believes these electoral changes were inevitable
after years of protest which had displeased Beijing.
So you had very large demonstrations in 2014 with the Umbrella Movement. And in 2019,
in what began as an anti-extradition bill demonstration.
But you also had large protests in Hong Kong earlier than that in 2003 and in 2012.
And I think what's important about the protests of some of those years
is they actually got the government to reverse course on things.
So Beijing in some ways, the Chinese Communist Party leadership got
frustrated with the fact that even though the local authorities were
trying very hard to do things to stay in Beijing's good graces,
that there still was more room for this kind of pushback than the Communist Party wanted to see.
So in Sunday’s election, 153 candidates will be running.
A couple of them are standing as independents but none of them belongs to any opposition parties.
Some activists, like Ted Hui, are urging people to cast blank votes as a way to protest.
Now the electoral system was changed so ridiculously, and it's meaningless for many
Hong Kongers to participate in the elections as if it's real. It's not, it's illegitimate.
If you go to vote and if there is a collective action of protest votes,
I think that means something to the regime, at least to embarrass them, at least to make
the regime look really bad. And when they react, they make mistakes. And then it's also a clearer
picture for the international community to see how angry people are. That's why I think
it could be a good idea if at least some people will do it collectively to toss aside votes.
But Hong Kong authorities have already been trying to prevent election boycotts.
They've issued charges against people who call on voters not to cast ballots - that
represents another way in which these elections are far from being free and fair.