The candidate of the small ADPL party, Kwok Wai Shing, also said he had not been admitted.
For a long time, the district council was the only representative body in the Chinese special administrative region elected predominantly by the people. In the previous local elections, in 2019, and at the height of protests for greater political freedoms, the democracy camp achieved a landslide victory.
Since then, Beijing has approved a new “national security law” in the former British crown colony and revised electoral laws in order to eliminate in advance everything it considers to be disloyal forces.
According to the new regulations, only 88 candidates out of the 453 district councilors will be freely elected. They must obtain the approval of at least nine members of three electoral commissions handpicked by the government in their electoral district. According to a calculation by the AFP news agency, more than 70 percent of the 172 candidates who want to run in the elections are members of the electoral commissions.
“The system requires me to receive nominations from my competitors,” said Kwok, an ADPL candidate. “Why should they do that?” Hong Kong Prime Minister John Lee, on the other hand, described last week’s elections as “open and fair.” Candidates who did not win the nomination should question themselves, he said. The only candidate will be “someone who loves China and Hong Kong”.
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