Hong Kong approves new electoral laws

The new law empowers the city’s national security department to check the backgrounds of potential candidates for public office and a sets up a new committee to ensure candidates are “patriotic”.

Hong Kong’s legislature on Thursday passed a bill amending electoral laws that drastically reduces the public’s ability to vote and increases the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers making decisions for the city.

Hong Kong bans Tiananmen vigil for second year running. (AP file photo)

The new law empowers the city’s national security department to check the backgrounds of potential candidates for public office and a sets up a new committee to ensure candidates are “patriotic”. The number of seats in Hong Kong’s legislature will be expanded to 90, with 40 of them elected by a pro-Beijing election committee. The number of legislators elected directly by Hong Kong voters will be cut to 20, from the previous 35.

Hong Kong bans Tiananmen vigil for 2nd year running

Hong Kong police cited Covid restrictions to ban for a second year running a June 4 annual vigil to commemorate the Chinese Communist government’s crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.