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Opinion | How Hong Kong will forge its own future through the new Election Committee
- The Election Committee subsector elections next Sunday will be a far cry from the 2016 polls, in terms of size of the electorate
- But, under new rules made by Beijing, the revamped committee will ensure the right candidates are elected to govern Hong Kong
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In a week’s time, a new Election Committee will be elected in Hong Kong. It will be the first election held under new rules made by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on March 30, and a curtain-raiser for two pivotal elections: the Legislative Council poll on December 19, and the chief executive election next March 27.
The importance of the Election Committee election cannot be overemphasised. Under the new rules, members of this committee will have the power to nominate and elect not only the next chief executive, but also 40 members of the expanded, 90-strong Legco.
Hong Kong’s future, after years of division, turmoil and stagnation, rests heavily on who gets to decide our next generation of leaders.
The Election Committee has been reconstituted such that, except for two subsectors comprising entirely ex officio members (legislators and Hong Kong representatives to the Two Sessions), and two others consisting entirely of nominated members (the religious subsector and the subsector comprising associations of Hong Kong residents on the mainland), all sectors have seats open to competition and can be elected by registered corporate or individual voters.
Perhaps because the rules are new – relevant legislation was passed only in May – far fewer candidates have stepped forward to compete for seats on the enlarged, 1,500-strong Election Committee.
As a result, seats in 23 subsectors have already been filled uncontested. More precisely, 1,084 members have already been decided, including 325 ex officio members, 156 nominees, and 603 uncontested candidates.
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