Election Overhaul Bills To Be Tabled Next Week: CE

The government will next Wednesday table a host of bills in relation to Beijing's electoral overhaul in the city, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Thursday.

Lam told lawmakers that the legal amendments are related to laws on the chief executive and Legislative Council polls, and are needed in light of changes made to annexes of the Basic Law last month by the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

The legal changes will cover how the constituency boundaries are set for Legco's directly elected seats, establishing a vetting committee to decide who is eligible to run in elections, as well as nomination and voting methods.

Lam said the government will also take measures to tackle "election manipulation and sabotage".

She again stressed that the timetable is tight, and said officials will get on with preparing three elections within a year, once the bills are passed by lawmakers.

Separately, constitutional affairs minister Erick Tsang told lawmakers that the government will consider whether there is a need to extend the planned Legco and CE candidate vetting mechanism to district councils.

But he noted during a Legco meeting that Beijing's changes to the Basic Law annexes do not cover the councils.