Hong Kong pro-democracy candidates won back only two of four seats in a crucial by-election in the semiautonomous Chinese region, final results showed Monday. Under the “one country, two systems” framework, Beijing promised to let Hong Kong maintain wide autonomy and civil liberties following its 1997 handover from Britain but fears are rising that China’s communist leaders are backtracking. Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp now holds 26 seats in the 70-seat Legislative Council. A third pro-democracy candidate, Gary Fan, won his constituency. In a fourth race, architects and surveyors elected a pro-Beijing candidate over Dutch native Paul Zimmerman.

Source: Egypt Independent March 12, 2018 04:30 UTC