Hong Kong drastically reduced the number of elected seats in its local district councils on Tuesday, undermining the city’s last set of democratic institutions.
The change is part of a widespread crackdown by Beijing on political freedoms in Hong Kong following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The latest elections for Hong Kong’s district councils took place at the height of these protests and resulted in a landslide victory for the city’s pro-democracy bloc.
But city leader John Lee announced on Tuesday that directly elected seats on councils would be cut from over 90% to 20%, to ensure they are controlled by Beijing loyalists.
He said the reforms would “right the wrongs” and that councils elected in 2019 were “platforms of protest violence and Hong Kong independence”.
“Many council members refused to recognize the People’s Republic of China as a sovereign state of Hong Kong,” Lee told a news conference.
He announced the change weeks after China’s top Hong Kong affairs official said district councils could no longer fall into the hands of “anti-China destabilizing forces”.
The percentage of elected seats is now lower than when district councils were created in 1982 under British colonial rule, reversing decades of democratization efforts.
Eighty percent of their seats will now be filled by government appointees.
Election candidates will need to seek nominations from three government-appointed committees and will be vetted based on their political loyalties and national security risks.
Such a check is already in place for candidates for seats in the Hong Kong legislature, which underwent an overhaul after the protests to ensure only “patriots” could run.
Beijing has imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong to crush dissent after pro-democracy protests that brought millions of people to the sometimes violent streets of Hong Kong four years ago.
Since then, more than 300 democratically elected district council members have been removed from office or resigned, some having fled the city.