Election Changes Must Come Quickly, Says Carrie Lam

Chief Executive Carrie Lam says she fully respects the central government for "taking the lead" in "improving" Hong Kong’s electoral system and the changes must come quickly.

She made the remarks in a statement on Friday, shortly after the vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress, Wang Chen, said the election committee tasked with picking Hong Kong's CE will be given new powers to participate in the nomination of all Legco candidates, and to elect “a relatively large share” of lawmakers.

Wang said the changes are needed to make sure only "patriots" can rule Hong Kong.

Lam said this requirement for patriots is nothing new, adding that it not only covers the chief executive and Executive Council members, but also lawmakers, judicial officers, district councillors and civil servants.

"There cannot be any ambiguity that 'patriots administering Hong Kong' is the critical and necessary requirement to the successful and robust implementation of 'one country, two systems'," she said.

Lam said the legal amendments must be completed quickly, because there are “many elections in the coming 12 months”.

She added that the SAR government will do its best to reflect views from various sectors in Hong Kong to the NPC Standing Committee, to help it finalise the plans.

"We will fully co-operate with the central authorities by enacting local legislation to implement the improvement measures, with a view to faithfully putting the principle of 'patriots administering Hong Kong' into practice," she said.