HONG KONG, Dec 19, Reuters -- Adrian Lau is one of the few independent candidates running in Sunday's elections for Hong Kong's Legislative Council. The elections are the first since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law and a shake-up of the city's electoral system.
The new system puts in place what the government calls an improved electoral system under the principle of patriots ruling Hong Kong All candidates must be approved by a national security vetting committee.
The main pan-democratic parties in Hong Kong have not endorsed or fielded any candidates, traditionally seen as the opposition. In November 2020, many opposition lawmakers resigned in protest against the government disqualifying elected legislators.
Lau, running for the legislature for the first time, describes himself as an independent democrat.
He hopes that the legislature will not slow-tracking the government's initiatives because there are some benefits in running.
There will still be a person in the legislature who belongs to the democratic side. Lau told Reuters that someone who can keep speaking out for the Hong Kong people. I will use the tools and resources in the Legislative Council, and make sure to keep speaking the truth, to keep speaking common sense. The Hong Kong government has repeatedly stated that rights and protections, including freedom of speech, are protected by a national security law that went into effect last year.
Only 20 out of 90 seats will be directly elected by the public from a choice of 35 candidates in Sunday's election. There are 153 candidates in the election, all of whom were vetted before being allowed to run. Of these, only about a dozen moderates with different backgrounds say that they are not aligned with the pro-establishment camp, with the rest consisting of pro-Beijing and pro-establishment figures.
A Hong Kong government spokeswoman did not respond to Reuters questions on why the number of independent candidates running in the election is small.
In February, police charged 47 Hong Kong democracy campaigners and former legislators with conspiracy to commit subversion for their role in an unofficial primary election after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city last year.
After the arrests, China's parliament changed its electoral landscape, reducing the number of directly elected seats from half to around a quarter, while an electoral committee stacked with pro-Beijing figures will select 40 of the legislative seats.
A new vetting body has been set up at China's behest and headed by senior Hong Kong officials to screen potential candidates to ensure only patriots run, according to government statements.
Lau, who is running in the legislative election for the first time, told Reuters he spent two weeks seeking nominations from pro-Beijing figures and got 10, the minimum required through a business contact he didn't name.
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a Hong Kong political scientist, said the new electoral reforms had put the traditional pro-democracy opposition in a bind.
The pan-democrats are facing a real dilemma because they can be accused of legitimising a system that is basically unfair if you accept the new rules of the game. He said that if you boycott the system, you don't have a chance of having a voice in the new political arrangement.
The elections were now more representative with more balanced participation and will elect those who are patriotic to govern the city, said Carrie Lam, a member of the National People's Congress and head of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions. A pro-establishment candidate told Reuters he was running to help solve deep-rooted social problems related to areas like housing, an ageing society, and a gaping wealth gap in the city.
While Hong Kong's new electoral system has been criticised by foreign governments and overseas activists, some of whom have called for boycotts, Ng described it as a necessary step to improve governance in the city.
Ng said that the Legislative Council had been paralysed in the past because of foreign powers and collusion between internal and external forces. Many missed opportunities with regards to taking care of our livelihood and economic issues have resulted in the government's work being obstructed.
Ng described accusations of dwindling freedoms in the Asian financial capital as simply electioneering Our current legislative council has 90 representatives, unlike in the past, where there were 70. There is even more representation that is meant by that. All stakeholders will be able to make their voices heard because the participation is even and spread out.