Change will bring the Arts Development Council poll in line with others held under Beijing’s ‘patriots-only’ electoral shake-up, the Home Affairs Bureau says.

Candidate John Lee calls financial system ‘sharp tool’ to be used by or against city during meeting with Election Committee members.

Among nominators are some of city’s most powerful businessmen, including CK Asset Holdings chairman Victor Li and Henderson Land co-chairman Martin Lee.

Many see Beijing’s backing of Lee as a sign that national security would take top priority.

In a statement, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she had received Chief Secretary John Lee’s resignation and submitted it to the central government.

City leader Carrie Lam explained her decision to push ahead with the poll, saying it would be ‘far easier to put in place disease-control measures’ for the relatively small-scale vote.

In his first public speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Checkley Sin admits ‘I have no connections or relations to get a blessing’.

Constituency member Lai Tung-kwok, the security minister between 2009 and 2012, says lawmakers with expertise are a ‘very important part of the legislature’.

Mike Rowse, former director general of InvestHK and self-proclaimed ‘unusual candidate’, makes comments in Post video, one of three throwing spotlight on election aspirants.

The forum, organised by the Hong Kong Coalition, draws all 51 candidates running in the Election Committee constituency.

Emerging business figures mostly from mainland firms set to flex muscle at coming poll, with record number of them signing up in race for seats in legislature.

Candidates and Election Committee members should start reaching out through, for example, platforms and seminars, and be given a chance for live broadcast dialogues with government officials.

The December Legislative Council poll will be the first since Beijing ordered a revamp of the city’s electoral system.

Electoral Affairs Commission says prolonged counting time for Election Committee race in September was ‘far beyond expectations’, suggests 8 measures to improve efficiency.

Top government adviser suggests handing responsibility for overseeing polls to those with administrative backgrounds, rather than jurists.

Former city leaders Tung, Leung among likely candidates for chief convenor of powerful committee, as pro-establishment parties go all out to get members elected lawmakers via Election Committee route.

Latest data from the Registration and Electoral Office shows sharp decline in new sign-ups, while number of voters aged 20 or younger drops by 22 per cent.

Chief executive promises to get to bottom of 14-hour delay that left Election Committee candidates and staff waiting overnight for results in which only 4,380 votes were cast.

Patriotism was voters’ main consideration when picking winners in Election Committee race, followed by backing ‘brand names’, according to analysts.

It took 9 hours for authorities to announce results for first of 13 Election Committee subsectors, one that involved just 55 votes.

Winners who did not even bother to include their platforms in their nomination paperwork have ‘undermined the legitimacy of the revamped electoral system’, says Beijing adviser Tian Feilong.

One mainland Chinese legal expert says body should be given new roles such as monitoring Hong Kong government and legislature, but other observers argue the liaison office is better positioned to carry out such supervision.