Hong Kong to hold next Legislative Council election on December 7
Advertisement
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday also said that he had instructed the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau to create comprehensive deployment and emergency plans to ensure the elections are held smoothly.
'[The bureau] was asked to work closely with the Electoral Affairs Commission to do proper planning and come up contingency plans on areas such as publicity, recruitment and training of electoral staff, arrangement of voting and ballot counting, data system and security,' Lee said ahead of his meeting with the government's key decision-making Executive Council.
He expressed hope that the eighth term of the Legco election, held every four years, would be conducted in a fair, just and honest manner.
He also hoped the election would pick out 90 lawmakers who 'love the country, love Hong Kong, have the ability and commitment' to serve the public.
Advertisement
Under the Beijing-decreed electoral shake-up to ensure only 'patriots' hold political power, the legislature was expanded from 70 to 90 seats, with the lion's share of 40 seats going to the Election Committee constituency, picked by the powerful body predominantly occupied by Beijing loyalists which also elects the city's leader.
Thirty seats were allocated to the trade-based functional constituencies, while the number of directly elected lawmakers returned in the geographical constituencies was slashed from 35 to 20.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
‘Failure' for Taiwan's William Lai as all 24 opposition KMT lawmakers survive mass recall vote
Voters in Taiwan on Saturday resoundingly rejected a mass recall campaign targeting opposition lawmakers, dealing a major setback to Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) while handing the Kuomintang (KMT) a surprise reprieve. All 24 lawmakers from the Beijing-friendly KMT who faced recall votes survived, in what analysts described as a serious political miscalculation by the DPP and its affiliated civil society groups. The backfiring of the DPP's high octane campaign, which was championed as a way to root out 'pro-China forces' and safeguard Taiwan's democracy, exposes growing public fatigue with 'anti-China' rhetoric as a blanket strategy. Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a part of China to be reunited by force if necessary, has intensified military pressure on the island since Lai took office in May last year and provoked Beijing with what it calls 'separatist' and pro-independence remarks. 01:40 Tens of thousands rally in Taiwan against William Lai as recall turmoil engulfs legislature Tens of thousands rally in Taiwan against William Lai as recall turmoil engulfs legislature The United States, like most countries, does not recognise self-governed Taiwan as independent. However, it is opposed to any unilateral change to the status quo and is committed to supplying Taiwan with weapons for defence.
South China Morning Post
12 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China's PLA Daily outlines image redemption checklist for political officers
China's official military newspaper has urged the force's political officers to rebuild their image by showing more loyalty to the top leadership, honesty in their work, and integrity in how they promote soldiers. Advertisement The series of commentaries in the PLA Daily follows Beijing's new disciplinary guidelines released on Monday to 'eliminate toxic influences' in the work of political officers, after a string of high-profile military crackdowns. The latest events include the removal last month of top general Miao Hua from the Central Military Commission (CMC), China's highest military command. Observers remarked that the guidelines and commentaries on improving the image and reputation of political cadres contained subtle clues about the misdeeds of the fallen generals, as well as Beijing's expectations for political officials in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to address and repair the damage. The three-part series, titled 'How to firmly establish the image and reputation of political cadres', ran from Tuesday to Thursday on the front pages of the PLA Daily as well as its social media platforms. The first commentary stressed the importance of maintaining political loyalty to the Communist Party leadership. Advertisement 'Once loyalty is watered down or falsified, personal interest will overwhelm the collective good in the face of complex struggles and tests of interests, and [they] may even slide into the abyss, betraying both the original intention of joining the army and the party oath,' Tuesday's edition said.
South China Morning Post
13 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
South Africa pushes to increase trade exports to China amid US' 30% tariff hike
Facing a US tariff of 30 per cent from August 1, South Africa is intensifying efforts to significantly grow its exports to China and address a persistent trade imbalance. Advertisement A high-level delegation, led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, has been on a week-long visit to Beijing, seeking investments and pitching strategic opportunities to diversify the nation's export basket beyond basic commodities towards higher-value products such as pharmaceuticals, automotive goods and green energy technologies In a speech at the South Africa China Investment Forum, held on the sidelines of the third China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing earlier this week, Mashatile said South Africa's trade deficit with China had risen from less than US$1 billion (7.2 billion yuan) annually between 1988 and 2000 to US$9.71 billion (69.7 billion yuan) by 2023. 'We need to address challenges such as access to the Chinese market due to factors like tariff and non-tariff barriers, distance and competition from other countries,' he said. South Africa is seeing a growing trade deficit that heavily favours China, and Mashatile explained that tackling these challenges required expanding South Africa's export portfolio, encouraging value-added exports and establishing a more balanced trade relationship. Advertisement
