Ip Kwok-him says district councilors should not have the power to elect HK leader

A Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC) says Beijing will likely remove district councilors’ power to elect the Chief Executive so as to reduce the opposition camp’s political leverage.

Of the 1,200-strong election committee tasked to select the Chief Executive, 117 are district councilor seats, RTHK reports.

They are elected among 452 district councilors – and more than 80 percent of them are from the pan-democratic camp after it won a sweeping victory in the elections in 2019.

Speaking before flying to Beijing to attend the NPC’s annual plenary session, Ip Kwok-him said he agreed district councilors should not be empowered to pick the top leader.

“It’s likely the 117 seats for district councilors on the election committee will be canceled. We see that members from the opposition camp won a lot of seats in the district council election. If they can get into the election committee, it will affect the CE election,” he said.

“How can people against the central government or even advocate Hong Kong independence become members of the election committee? It’s important that we ensure the CE is a patriot.”

He said he expected the matter to be added as an ad hoc item on the NPC session’s agenda.