Done Deal

Hong Kong's election system has changed forever from today

With 2,895 votes for, none against, and only one abstention, the proposal to make sweeping changes to Hong Kong's electoral system was made today. It was an eerie memory of when the national security law was passed for the city last year.

Now another nail in the coffin has been hammered forcefully into the 1997 handover promise of "one country, two systems", that nothing would change for 50 years.

Instead integrating Hong Kong into the mainland has happened 25 years ahead of schedule.

The changes will ensure "patriots administering Hong Kong", and enlarge the election committee from 1,200 to 1,500, with the extra 300 from the pro-Beijing camp; it will also have the power to vet who can become a candidate to run in the Legislative Council elections.

Lam says changes will plug loopholes in Legco

Legco will also be expanded from 70 seats to 90, with the additional 20 coming from the pro-establishment camp.

"I firmly believe that, after the principle of 'patriots administering Hong Kong' is fully implemented and loopholes of the existing electoral system are plugged, we will be able to resolve the problem of the Legislative Council making everything political in recent years, and effectively deal with the reckless moves or internal rift that have torn Hong Kong apart," Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said this evening in a media briefing.

When it came to the question of "patriots", Lam had this to say:

"Loving the Communist Party is an obligation of party members. I am not a party member... but we have to accept Hong Kong is part of [China]," she said. "This socialist system with Chinese characteristics under the Chinese Communist Party is written in China's Constitution... we should not do anything to undermine the system."

Interesting for Lam to disclose she is not a card-carrying member, but this qualification may change for subsequent CEs.

A spokesman for Beijing's liaison office said the overhaul was a legitimate way for the central government to "improve" the electoral system. "It shows the collective will of the Chinese people in safeguarding national sovereignty and security... This is necessary for Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability, and is lawful, just and progressive," he said.

Soon after the vote was taken and the results revealed, several Hong Kong government departments immediately announced their backing of the new decision.

The opposition has effectively been silenced

Where were the opposition voices to speak out? 

Oh -- there are none these days. They have either disassociated themselves from the political parties they belonged to, or have been arrested and awaiting trial, or are in prison, or in exile.

Who knew back in 1997 that Hong Kong would turn out like this? 

When a country becomes increasingly authoritarian, there is a higher chance of incompetence and corruption. 

Here is one letter to the editor that sums up the dire situation Hong Kong is in:

The changes proposed to our Hong Kong electoral system are extraordinary.

Firstly, for any aspiring pan-democrat to be able to stand, they will have to be nominated by an unelected committee comprised of their opponents -- you have to read that a few times, and pinch yourself, to check that you're not dreaming it. Next you have to be checked that you are sufficiently patriotic, that term being wholly dependent on the subjective interpretation, again, of your opponents.

Today's vote had none against the changes

Assuming you get this far, you can then stand, but only for less than one-third of the seats in Legco, down from the current 40 out of 70, in other words a reduction in influence of about half. That, apparently is an "improvement" and consistent with gradual "progress" towards full universal suffrage as set out in the Basic Law.

This reduction in influence is to close a loophole, the loophole presumably being that you might actually win a vote in Legco. While in Legco, you will be constantly vetted to ensure you continue to be a patriot, so will probably have to vote with the government otherwise you'll get thrown out or prosecuted for not being a patriot any more.

If you need to get nominated by your opponents, and your vote won't count for anything anyway even if your voting record is considered loyal, then why bother trying to get elected in the first place? There is only one overriding consideration in any electoral system -- will the legislature properly represent the interests of the community it governs? For example, how will the two million people who peacefully protested in June 2019 be represented under this system? How will it represent the 55-60 percent of Hongkongers who regularly vote for pan-democratic candidates? Quite simply it won't. 

When you severely restrict the range of views that will be listened to, the outcome will be like having 90 tone-deaf Carrie Lams -- ask any corporation about how diversity of opinion improves decision-making and you will see why these changes are so dangerous for Hong Kong.

Who in Legco will represent these people?

They will lead to a collapse in the standards of governance (why bother governing properly if you're going to win an election anyway?) and an increase in cronyism, populism and corruption. All these proposals will do is stoke the resentments that are still boiling away and will, at some point, just explode again.

The letter is foreboding, but will mostly probably come true. 

Why even bother trying to represent the people who would vote pan-democrats when it's practically impossible to be voted in?

It's an impossible task and the end of an era.