The Chinese Parliament on Thursday
voted to bring in major changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system. By the way of
a vote in the parliament, veto-power was issued to mainland leaders in order to
select or remove candidates appearing for elections in the former UK colony. In
the 2,896-member strong National People’s Congress, only one member reportedly abstained
from voting on the matter, AFP reported.

The decision of empowering the
central authorities with this new legislative advantage comes from an idea of putting
the responsibilities of governing the city “firmly in the hands of forces that
are patriotic and love Hong Kong”, AFP quoted parliamentary spokeswoman Wang
Chen as saying regarding the matter.

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Senior officials in the
administration have reportedly made it clear that loyalty to the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) would be essential in deciding if a Hong Kong citizen is
a ‘patriot’.

“The Hong Kong government and I
firmly support the decision and express our gratitude from the bottom of our
hearts,” Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam has been quoted by AFP
as saying, who was quick to applaud the move by Beijing.

A key part of the change will be
having an electoral committee and a ‘candidate qualification review committee’.

The former would be strengthened from
1200 to 1500 representatives, and will be tasked with electing a leader in tune
with “realities and representative of the overall interests” of Hong Kong
and its people.

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The latter will review the
qualifications of the candidates set to contest in the elections.

Reportedly, China also plans to
decrease the number of directly elected candidates in both LegCo (Hong Kong’s legislature)
and the committee that chooses the chief executive, a move that would further limit
scopes for Hong Kong residents having an electoral say in the matter.