LegCo Election Set For 19 Dec, Chief Exec Election 27 Mar 2022

At a press conference earlier today, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that elections to the Legislative Council will take place on 19 December, while the election of the chief executive will be held on 27 March 2022.

• Lam also announced that elections to the Election Committee, which votes on the next Chief Executive, will be held on 19 September.
• The elections will be the first to be held under the new electoral law imposed on HK by Beijing. Lam announced that following approval of the bill from her Executive Council, it will now be presented to the LegCo for approval.
• Some of the changes in the lengthy text include the increase in the number of individuals on the LegCo from 70 to 90, but the reduction in the number of LegCo members directly elected from 35 to 20. In future, 40 LegCo members will be appointed by pro-Beijing officials. In an action that will remove any prospect of democrats making it into the LegCo, or as Beijing has said, to ensure only 'patriots' are in the LegCo, prospective members will have to be approved by Beijing.
• The reaction of western nations to Hong Kong's new election laws has been highly critical, and this can only be expected to intensify as the elections near.