HONG KONG: The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Tuesday revealed dates for coming key polls in the city, starting on September 19 with the contest for seats on the Election Committee.
The election of the Legislative Council (LegCo) of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), which had earlier been postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will take place on December 19, HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a press briefing, adding that the chief executive election is scheduled on March 27, next year.
The HKSAR started local legislation after China’s top legislature last month adopted a package of legislative changes to improve city’s electoral system. According to Lam, the Executive Council earlier on Tuesday has approved the local electoral amendment bill. The bill called Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Bill 2021 will be introduced into LegCo on Wednesday for first reading and second reading. She specified some of the changes. As the LegCo’s five geographical constituencies will be increased to 10, Hong Kong Island will have two constituencies, Kowloon will own three, and New Territories will occupy five.
Each constituency shall have two seats in the LegCo with two candidates who got the most voting, into office. “Under Beijing’s plan, the candidate eligibility review committee should be set up according to local laws. The committee members have to be officials who were nominated by the chief executive and appointed by the central government. There will be one chairman, with two to four committee members,” Lam explained the composition of the committee. She also mentioned social representatives will be added to the new candidate eligibility review committee. The committee originally expected to include only a small group of principal officials.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN News exchange item
