Hong Kong experienced the worst sociopolitical unrest, in the form of the “black revolution” in the second half of 2019, since its return to the motherland in 1997. It started as the anti-extradition-law amendment bill campaign but quickly turned violent and deadly, causing enormous damage to the local economy and posing a grave threat to the rule of law in the name of five demands. It continued in the first half of 2020, when the city was under quarantine restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and did not stop until the National People’s Congress Standing Committee enacted the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on June 30, 2020. The new law not only put an end to months of social unrest but also jump-started a much-needed system reboot — the NPCSC decision to improve Hong Kong’s electoral system through local legislation according to the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong” and upholding the “one country, two systems” policy. It is safe to say that this is the most crucial reform that Hong Kong has ever undertaken, one that heralds a new era of good governance.
That historic decision of the NPCSC then became national law in the shape of amendments to Annex I and Annex II of the Basic Law of the HKSAR, paving the way for Hong Kong to write its electoral system improvement bill into local law. Now the upgraded election system will be put to the test in three crucial elections in the coming months, beginning with the 2021 Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections on Sunday.
Under the improved electoral system, the Election Committee has been expanded to 1,500 seats in five sectors, with new subsectors such as small and medium-sized enterprises, grassroots associations, and representatives of mainland Hong Kong groups. This feature gives the Election Committee broader representativeness and better balance in participation by people from all walks of life.
The addition of seats representing Hong Kong members of national institutions other than the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference is another way to emphasize the sense of national identity among Hong Kong residents.
Another highlight of the new Election Committee is its functions in the context of implementing “patriots administering Hong Kong” by preventing anti-China individuals from entering the governance structure of the HKSAR through elections.
The new Election Committee under the improved electoral system is designed to fix this problem by keeping anti-China forces out of the LegCo election from now on. That way a rational and constructive relationship between the executive and legislative wings of the SAR government can be formed and maintained in the best interest of Hong Kong society
Apart from the original function of returning the chief executive of the HKSAR, the new Election Committee will also determine the eligibility of nominees for the chief executive election candidacy, electing 40 of the 90-seat Legislative Council and directly participating in the nomination of all LegCo election candidates.
The executive wing of the HKSAR government fell victim to frequent ambush by the opposition camp or the “pan-democrats”, in LegCo, which made it extremely hard to focus on maintaining healthy socioeconomic development for the betterment of people’s well-being in the past two decades or so. Opposition lawmakers, many of them representing separatist forces hell-bent on doing anti-China Western powers’ bidding to stop the country’s development by messing up Hong Kong, were able to do so much damage purely because of the loopholes in the old electoral system that let them infiltrate the governance establishment.
The new Election Committee under the improved electoral system is designed to fix this problem by keeping anti-China forces out of the LegCo election from now on. That way, a rational and constructive relationship between the executive and legislative wings of the HKSAR government can be formed and maintained in the best interest of Hong Kong society.
Under the improved electoral system, the new Election Committee will play a critical role in sustaining the healthy progress of Hong Kong’s constitutional development by serving as the first line of defense against attempts by anti-China forces to infiltrate the governance establishment of the HKSAR through the election system.
The new Election Committee has a convener mechanism for calling unscheduled meetings in response to election-related situations that require its attention and solution if applicable. This means that the new Election Committee not only performs the role of an electorate but also acts as a guard protecting the HKSAR governance structure and its normal operation according to the Basic Law and relevant Hong Kong laws.
The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.