News / China

People vote to pick Election Committee members in Hong Kong

Sunday, 11 December 2016 8:49 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 11 December 2016 10:48 AM ]

Anti-China protesters celebrate after it was announced that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying would not run for office again, during a rally in Hong Kong, December 11, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

People in Hong Kong have taken to the polls to elect their representatives in the Election Committee, which is in turn responsible for choosing the autonomous region’s new leader.

More than 230,000 registered voters began voting on Sunday in more than 110 polling stations, which are open from 07:30 local time (2330 GMT Saturday) to 10:30.

Over 1,230 candidates are competing for 733 seats in 25 sub-sectors in the broadly representative Election Committee. The body is comprised of 1,200 seats under 38 sub-sectors. The remaining 467 seats in 13 sub-sectors were returned uncontested.

The 1,200 members of the Election Committee come from the four main industrial, commercial, financial, and religious sectors.

The Election Committee, according to the Hong Kong Basic Law, the region’s mini-constitution, is responsible for choosing a chief executive, who will be officially appointed by the Central People’s Government of China.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (Photo by AFP)

Hong Kong’s incumbent Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying recently said he would not seek reelection. He cited family reasons as the reason for his decision.

Leung, who assumed office on July 1st, 2012, has often been accused by the opposition anti-Beijing camp of putting Chinese mainland’s interests above those of Hong Kong.

In 2014, massive anti-Beijing rallies in Hong Kong disrupted the people’s regular life for months.

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