While district councils have little power, they select some of the 1,200 electors who choose Hong Kong’s chief executive. In the next election, pro-democracy parties will fill nearly 10 percent of those seats. District councils are elected in a fully democratic process (compared with only half the seats in the Hong Kong Legislative Council). However, that model’s failure in Hong Kong has hardened anti-China sentiment and turned many voters away from the pan-blue camp, which favors closer ties with Beijing. The Chinese state, built on a millennia-old paradigm of political order, cannot cope with intergovernmental conflict.

Source: Taipei Times December 24, 2019 15:56 UTC