Plans to overhaul direct elections for District Councillors is a "shameless breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration"

Today, the Hong Kong Government has announced plans to reduce the number of directly elected District Councillors in Hong Kong to twenty percent of seats.

Under plans revealed by the Hong Kong Chief Executive, John Lee, the number of directly elected district councillors would be reduced, with twenty percent directly elected, the Chief Executive appointing forty percent of seats, and a committee appointed by government ministers appointing a further forty percent of seats.

Last week the Hong Kong Chief Executive said the move will see future district councils would be comprised solely of “patriots”. The Hong Kong Government also intends to redraw the boundaries for district council elections and have a run-off to block pro-democracy parties from winning elections.

In the 2019 District Council elections, the last free elections in Hong Kong, pro-democracy parties secured 392 of the 452 seats in a landslide. Currently, two-thirds of those elected in 2019 have either been disqualified or resigned as a result of the National Security Law.

Plans to remove the number of directly elected District Councillors follows changes to Legislative Council elections that were introduced in 2021, which saw a reduction in the number of directly elected lawmakers and the introduction of a patriots test.

The UK Government in its six-monthly report on Hong Kong has stated that changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system for the Legislative Council reversed China’s commitments to move gradually towards universal suffrage for Hong Kong and were a clear breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Commenting on the plans, Sam Goodman, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Hong Kong Watch, said:

“Beijing’s plan to overhaul direct elections for District Councillors in Hong Kong is a further attack on the city’s autonomy, a betrayal of the rights of Hong Kongers to vote directly for their elected representatives, and a shameless breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”

It will be lost on no one that the last free elections in Hong Kong saw pro-democracy parties win a landslide in the District Council elections. Since that historic election Beijing has undertaken a spiteful and unprecedented crackdown in the city.

The UK Government must call out this clear breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and oppose attempts to dismantle democracy in Hong Kong, making it clear that it is ready to sanction those officials involved.”