Hong Kong's Legislative Council on Thursday (July 6) passed a bill that will significantly reduce the number of directly elected seats in the district councils, completing an overhaul of the city's electoral system in line with the "patriots administering HK" principle.
Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki said in a press conference that the passage of the bill is an important step in the series of work to improve district governance and reflects the close cooperation between the Legislative Council and the government, and the governance of the SAR has been greatly enhanced.
"The bill has received a lot of support from the public, local people and different stakeholders, collecting more than 1.6 million signatures from supporters," said Chan.
Chan added that the government will continue to reach out to the community and continue to publicize and explain the proposal.
He also said that the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau will start to formulate guidelines for the District Councils and recommend patriots who love Hong Kong to become members, with the goal of restoring the positioning of the District Councils under the Basic Law by January 1 next year, and implementing a new chapter of "governance for the people".
It is reported that Mr. Chan will personally chair the Steering Committee on District Governance, which will start its first meeting this month. According to Chan, he will supervise and lead the Committee to improve the district governance structure.
Comment