HONG KONG (Reuters) -Fewer than 5,000 Hong Kong people from mostly pro-establishment circles began voting on Sunday for candidates to an election committee, vetted as loyal to Beijing, who will pick the city’s next China-backed leader and some of its legislature. Pro-democracy candidates are nearly absent from Hong Kong’s first election since Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system to ensure that “only patriots” rule China’s freest city. “The whole objective of improving the electoral system is to ensure patriots administer Hong Kong,” Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said on Sunday morning. China’s rubber-stamp parliament in May changed Hong Kong’s electoral system, reducing democratic representation in institutions and introducing the vetting mechanism for election candidates and winners. Many prominent tycoons, including Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, will not be on the election committee for the first time, as Beijing seeks to rebalance power from big conglomerates to small businesses.

Source: MetroXpress September 18, 2021 22:00 UTC