Hong Kong amends electoral law, limits public vote

Hong Kong’s legislature on Thursday passed a bill amending the electoral laws to limit public voting rights, The Associated Press reported.

The bill will allow pro-Beijing lawmakers to make decisions for the city and lets the city’s security department run background checks on possible candidates. 

The bill also gives the pro-Beijing election committee 40 new seats in the house, cutting down seats voted by Hong Kong voters to 20, according to the AP. 

Proponents of the new legislation said that this will ensure that those who are not loyal to Hong Kong won’t be running for office. 

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy chairman, Lo Kin-hei, told the AP that his party wasn’t pleased with the passing of this legislation, adding that it isn’t good for the city. 

“We are disappointed with the way that the government is changing the electoral system, because we can see that the representation of the people from Hong Kong in the Legislative Council or in the institution as a whole is much less than before, so this is not something which is good for Hong Kong,” Lo said in the AP report. 

This comes as Beijing wants to control more of Hong Kong after various anti-government protests and political strife happened in the city in 2019.  

The bill was passed on a 40-2 vote, with mostly pro-Beijing lawmakers voting on the measure, according to the AP.