Hong Kong’s electoral overhaul goes much deeper than quashing anti-China opposition, it’s pushing city to mirror mainland ways, analysts say

Endorsement of mainland-Chinese institutions expected to increasingly become a necessity for professionals on powerful Election Committee, subsectors seen as traditional strongholds of pan-democrats

Tuesday’s sweeping overhaul of political system represents broader ambition to realign city’s social and economic structures as well, one political scientist argues

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Those with political aspirations in Hong Kong will need to begin building ties with mainland bodies, numerous analysts who spoke to the Post predict. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:48am, 31 Mar 2021Updated: 11:28am, 31 Mar 2021

The significance of Hong Kong’s sweeping electoral overhaul goes deeper than merely raising the barriers for opposition hopefuls to enter polls, analysts who have followed the city’s political development for decades say.

Some key moves, they argue, reflect Beijing’s desire to reorder Hong Kong’s political system so it more closely mirrors the one found in mainland China, where institutional recommendations and endorsement are needed to rise through elite ranks.

Under the revamp approved unanimously by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Tuesday, the 1,200-strong Election Committee originally tasked with picking the city’s chief executive will be expanded by 300 members. It will also be granted new power to send 40 representatives to the Legislative Council, which has been expanded from 70 to 90 seats.

The need to ensure some sort of mainland-linked endorsement has become clear in several subsectors of the revamped committee, primarily ones involving groups such as accountants, lawyers and doctors.

The professionals sector from which those groups hail – one of five that comprise the Election Committee – was the traditional stronghold of pan-democrats in previous polls, giving them influence, if not a kingmaker role, when combined with votes from the social welfare sector.

After the overhaul, half of the 30 seats earmarked for the technology and innovation subsector in the professionals sector will now be nominated from among Hong Kong fellows of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Half of the 30 seats reserved for the accountancy subsector will be nominated from among Hong Kong accounting advisers appointed by the Ministry of Finance. Nine of the 30 members of the legal subsector will be nominated from among local members of the Council of the China Law Society.