Hong Kong’s Legislative Council adopted further changes to the electoral system of the District Councils on 6 July. The reform of the District Council elections goes against the commitment to democratic representation set out in the Hong Kong Basic Law, and further undermines the ‘one country, two systems’ principle.

The electoral overhaul of the District Council reduces drastically the number of directly elected members to less than one-fifth. This severely weakens the ability of the people of Hong Kong to choose representatives overlooking district affairs. This decision follows the imposition of the National Security Law in 2020 and the overhaul of the elections’ rules for the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council in 2021.

These developments raise serious questions about the state of fundamental freedoms, democracy and political pluralism in Hong Kong that were supposed to remain protected until at least 2047 under the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 and China’s international commitments.

The EU calls on the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in Hong Kong’s democratic processes, and to pursue the establishment of universal suffrage that is enshrined in the Basic Law. China should abide by its international commitments and its legal obligations and to preserve Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.