Candidate registration for Hong Kong's district council election slated for December started Tuesday, as the special administrative region amended a law earlier this year and drastically reduced the number of directly elected seats.
The poll on Dec. 10 will be the first "patriots-only" election for the district council, following a 2021 election of the Legislative Council that underwent a similar overhaul based on Beijing's principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong."
The largest and pro-Beijing party, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said on Monday that it will field over 120 candidates to stand in the election, a stark contrast to its rival Democratic Party, which will have only six candidates, according to local media reports.
In the Legislative Council election in December 2021, the Democratic Party abstained from putting forward candidates. The poll, which followed the electoral change in the aftermath of the 2019 anti-government protests, was swept by pro-Beijing members.
In the previous district council election in 2019, the pro-democracy camp clinched an unprecedented landslide victory, capturing over 80 percent of the 452 directly elected seats and gaining control over 17 of Hong Kong's 18 district councils.
Under the amendment approved by the legislature unanimously in July, the number of seats in the district council directly elected by the public was significantly reduced from 452 to 88, while the overall number of seats dipped from 479 to 470.
The remaining seats will be filled by members chosen by the chief executive, rural committee chairpersons and local committees.
The Electoral Affairs Commission will accept nominations until Oct. 30.
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