China has declared primaries held by Hong Kongs pro-democratic parties on the weekend illegal and the citys leader has announced an investigation, saying that the candidates intention to vote against government legislation could break national security laws.
The primary polls, while not a formal part of Hong Kongs election process, drew an estimated 600,000 people out to vote for democracy candidates ahead of the legislative council elections scheduled for September.
The extraordinary turnout in the face of warnings by authorities was interpreted by observers as an act of opposition to the national security laws imposed by Beijing on 30 June.
As the pro-democracy protest movement continued throughout 2019 and an unprecedented number of pro-democracy candidates were voted in at district council elections, there has been growing confidence that the pro-Beijing members in the legislative council (LegCo) could be sent into minority. With the primaries, organisers sought to determine a shortlist of candidates to avoid splitting the votes.
Late on Monday Beijings top representatives in Hong Kong labelled the primaries illegal and accused organisers of colluding with foreign powers in a serious provocation of Hong Kongs electoral system and to seize the private data of voters.
The goal of organiser Benny Tai and the opposition camp is to seize the ruling power of Hong Kong and ... carry out a Hong Kong version of colour revolution, said a spokesman for the Liaison Office, whose chief is also in charge of implementing the national security laws.
The statement came in support of Hong Kongs chief executive, Carrie Lam, who said that democrats coordinating to win a majority and veto the governments budget could be against the anti-sedition laws, and would be be investigated.
If this so-called primary elections purpose is to achieve the ultimate goal of delivering what they call a 35+ [majority seats] with the objective of objecting to, resisting every policy initiative of the Hong Kong SAR government, then it may fall into the category of subverting the state power, which is now one of the four types of offences under the new national security law, Lam told media late on Monday.