Hong Kong’s District Council System to be Dominated by Appointed Members

Liu Ruishao, a senior Hong Kong current affairs commentator, believes that the SAR government has significantly reduced the direct elections of district council seats, but did not choose to directly cancel the direct elections. when”.

Liu Ruishao, who is familiar with Chinese politics, commented on BBC Chinese: “This is equivalent to the “Election Law” in the mainland also saying that direct elections and indirect elections are combined. It just means that direct elections exist at or below the county level, but when it is actually implemented , is still under the control of the authorities.”

In the reorganization in 2021, the number of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council will also be reduced to 22% of the total seats.

The 18 district councils formed in November 2019 have a total of 479 members. Except for the 27 ex officio members of the nine districts in the New Territories who are chairmen of the rural committees, they are all directly elected by voters. The current term of the District Council will expire on December 31, 2023.

On Tuesday morning, the SAR Executive Council approved the plan for rectifying the District Council and announced it. The new District Council will have 470 members, 27 ex-officio members will be retained, the remaining 40% will be appointed by the chief executive, 40% will be elected by “regional committee sector elections”, and 20% will be returned by local elections.

Among them, the “regional committee sector elections” will be elected by members of the District Fight Crime Committee, Fire Prevention Committee and District Committee, collectively referred to as the “three committees”. The members of the “three committees” are all appointed by the SAR government.

In terms of local elections, the existing 18 districts will not be re-divided immediately, but the constituencies will be reorganized and the “two-seat-one-vote system” will be implemented. Candidates must first be nominated by members of the “Three Councils”.

Regardless of the means of participation, a “qualification review” system will be introduced in the selection process of district councilors to confirm the qualifications of councilors. Li Jiachao said the move was aimed at “ensuring national security and fully implementing the principle of ‘patriots governing Hong Kong'”. He also called for ensuring that the new district councils are “depoliticized and reflect executive leadership”.

The chairman of the district council will be elected by members from among the members, and will be replaced by the district affairs commissioner of the SAR government in the district. After that, he will play the role of assisting the government in “taking the pulse of the district” and winning the support of the public for the government. The District Council’s power to approve local small-scale project appropriations and other powers will be fully transferred to the SAR government. The Chief Secretary for Administration of the SAR, Chen Guoji, said that this will prevent the appropriation of funds from being abused by members.

Li Jiachao said that the salary subsidies of district councilors are similar to those in the past, but a “duty performance monitoring system” will be introduced to “investigate district councilors whose behavior does not meet public expectations, and deal with them appropriately according to the severity.” Mai Meijuan, director of the Bureau of Civil Affairs and Youth Affairs of the Special Administrative Region, said that if the sanctioned members are not satisfied, they can appeal to the Chief Secretary for Administration.

These rectifications will have to be implemented by amending existing laws. The Secretary for Justice of the Special Administrative Region, Lawyer Lam Ting-kwok, SC, said that the relevant bill would be submitted to the Legislative Council, but did not specify the specific time.

A reporter asked Li Jiachao why he did not directly abolish direct elections. Li Jiachao emphasized that this rectification is “the improvement of the system” and hopes to recruit talents through “diversification of channels”.

Li Jiachao said: “We used to go the wrong way, so some people who ‘Hong Kong independence’, encourage ‘black violence’, and ‘speculation’ entered the district council. This is an indisputable fact.”

Li Jiachao also told the official China Central Television reporter that this rectification is to “eliminate some people who betray the interests of Hong Kong, the interests of the citizens, and the interests of the country.”

Law Kin-hee, chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, expressed disappointment with these measures of the SAR government. He believes that this is a “relatively poor plan”, and questioned the SAR government’s belief that the District Council should cooperate with the government. He is worried that members who join through the appointment route will only go along with the government, prevent elected members from holding the government accountable, and will not pay attention to the expectations of the public.

Luo Jianxi said at an online press conference: “The core of the whole plan is to reduce the number of elected seats. The government does not deny that they do not think that the more elected the better, the citizens have invested in district council affairs for many years, whether it is Participating in its activities, voting for district councilors, or giving advice to district council members, the public will be disappointed.”

Luo Jianxi said that the Democratic Party will discuss whether to continue to run for the district council later. Regarding whether he would be concerned about joining the “New District Council” which was originally intended to serve the government, which may cause backlash from supporters, Luo Jianxi replied to a BBC Chinese reporter, saying that it is understandable for anyone to have such thoughts.

“I personally feel that, whether it is the Legislative Council or the District Councils; whether it is before “improvement” or after “improvement”, they are all part of the establishment. I don’t think there is any difference from the past at all. But of course, the government now expects parliament to serve the government in the future, and I think that’s debatable.”

Luo Jianxi, who served as a member of the Southern District from 2012 to July 2021, also said that members should be supervised by the citizens rather than the government. He questioned the introduction of a “performance supervision system” like setting school rules in schools and punishing students in this way. This reflects what the SAR government is thinking about.

The pro-establishment camp in the Legislative Council expressed support for the SAR government’s plan to rectify district councils. Among them, Mr. Wu Qiubei, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), said that this plan fully considered China’s national security, as well as the principles of “patriots governing Hong Kong”, “administrative leadership” and “balanced participation”. Will actively participate in the election. The New Democratic Party commented that the implementation of qualification examinations for district council candidates can prevent district councils from “becoming a subversive organization.”

There is only one seat in the Legislative Council, and the only political group that claims to be non-establishment said that it expects the SAR government to further open elections and increase the democratic content of district councils after the national security risk is stabilized. The organization said it would actively seek the opportunity to stand for election.

Liu Ruishao commented on BBC Chinese that the SAR government obviously hopes to achieve 100% political security, but it is doubtful whether this is equivalent to winning the hearts of the people. “I think for some time to come, there will be manifestations of ‘firmly grasping overall governance power’.”

In 1982, the British Hong Kong government established the District Council. At that time, Hong Kong was divided into 18 districts, and the divisions have been slightly changed over the years since then. District councils have no real power and are local administrative consultations. However, after their establishment, they began to select members through elections. Since 1985, the ratio of elected members to government-appointed members has been two to one.

Soon, with the establishment of the Regional Municipal Council in the New Territories, which was in line with the Municipal Councils of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, British Hong Kong formed a three-level parliamentary structure of Legislative Council-Urban Council-District Council. After the handover of power in 1997, the Tung Chee-hwa government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China “killed the bureau” and abolished the Municipal Council at the end of 1999. In 2008, the Tsang Yam-kuen government delegated the power of approving small municipal construction projects to the district councils. In 2016, the Leung Chun-ying government abolished it. Government-appointed seats, except for the ex officio seats in the New Territories, are all directly elected.

Prior to this, district councilors had the right to stand for election to the Election Committee in accordance with the “Hong Kong Basic Law” and exert influence on the election of the Chief Executive. In 2012, the election system of the Legislative Council of the Special Administrative Region was reorganized, and seats commonly known as “super district councillors” were established, allowing the majority of Hong Kong voters to vote for five district councilors to concurrently serve as members of the Legislative Council. The real power of district councilors has reached its peak so far.

In the 2019 district council elections, the democrats won more than two-thirds of the seats, and 17 of the 18 district councils were led by the democrats. During the national “two sessions” in March 2021, the National People’s Congress of China passed the “Decision on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”, abolishing all seats of the District Council in the Legislative Council and the Election Committee.

In May 2021, the Legislative Council passed the “Public Office Amendment Ordinance”, requiring the district councilors who have taken office to take an oath to “uphold the “Basic Law” and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”. The “Negative Behavior List” determines whether the sworn members have engaged in activities that violate the “Hong Kong National Security Law” such as advocating “Hong Kong independence” and seeking foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs, and then declare their oaths invalid. Once it is ruled that the oath is invalid, the member will not only be stripped of his seat, but also banned from standing for election for five years.

In the end, more than 200 district councilors resigned before being summoned to take the oath, and 56 people were deprived of their seats because the oath was ruled invalid or they refused to take the oath.