In March 2021, the National People’s Congress adopted the decision on improving Hong Kong’s electoral system, so as to ensure the implementation of the “patriots governing Hong Kong” principle, and to improve the governance efficiency of the Special Administrative Region. Later, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress revised Annex I and Annex II of the Basic Law, making specific and clear provisions on the new electoral system.

 

The core elements in the improvement to the electoral system was the restructuring of and new empowerment to the Election Committee.

 

The Election Committee is responsible for nominating the candidates for and electing the chief executive, for electing 40 Legislative Council members, and nominating all candidates for Legislative Council members. Members of the Election Committee must be permanent residents of Hong Kong. The committee has 1,500 members from five sectors, with 300 from each sector. The committee is broadly representative, suited to the HKSAR's actual situation and representative of the overall interests of the society. The term of the Election Committee is five years.

 

Members of the Election Committee are elected in three ways. First, the ex-officio members, including the Legislative Council members, deputies from Hong Kong to the National People’s Congress, and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference from Hong Kong. Being nominated by the designated bodies of the relevant subsectors, for example, the religious groups and representatives of associations of Hong Kong residents on the mainland, and being elected by eligible corporate voters or individual voters in the subsectors.

 

The Election Committee adopts a convenor system. The convenor is responsible for convening meetings of the Election Committee when necessary, and for handling relevant affairs. The convenor shall be a member of the Election Committee who holds a state-level position.

 

How does the Election Committee perform its duties and functions in the nominating and voting processes of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council?

 

Beginning with the Chief Executive election in 2022, a candidate must secure at least 188 nominations by the Election Committee members, and the number of nominations from members of each subsector shall be at least 15 or more. The Chief Executive is elected by the Election Committee, in the form of secret balloting of one vote for each member, and a candidate will win the election when he or she secures a majority of votes, that is, more than 750 votes.

 

For the Legislative Council election, the Election Committee is responsible for electing a designated number of members, and for nominating all candidates. In the 2021 Legislative Council election, that is, the seventh-term Legislative Council, the number of members was increased to 90, with 40 of them being elected and returned by the Election Committee, 30 being elected and returned by functional constituencies, and 20 being directly elected by geographical constituencies. 

 

If one wants to join the race in any of the constituencies, he or she must secure nominations from each sector of the Election Committee, not less than two but no more than four, that is, at least 10 nominations from the Election Committee, before he or she can qualify for standing for the election.

 

After improvements to the electoral system, Hong Kong also set up the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, which is responsible for reviewing and validating the qualifications of the candidates for the Election Committee, the candidates for the Chief Executive and the candidates for the Legislative Council members. Members of the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee shall be appointed by the Chief Executive, including the chairperson, at least two but not more than four official members, and at least one but not more than three non-official members.