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Voters participate a polling halfway for the predetermination committee that volition ballot for the city's person successful Hong Kong Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. Hong Kong's polls for an predetermination committee that volition ballot for the city's person kicked disconnected Sunday amid dense constabulary presence, with main enforcement Carrie Lam saying that it is "very meaningful" arsenic it is the archetypal predetermination to instrumentality spot pursuing electoral reforms. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

HONG KONG – Select Hong Kong residents voted for members of the Election Committee that take the city's person successful polls Sunday that Chief Executive Carrie Lam called “very meaningful” arsenic the archetypal nether reforms meant to guarantee candidates with Beijing loyalty.

The Election Committee volition prime 40 of 90 lawmakers successful the city’s legislature during elections successful December, arsenic good arsenic elite the Hong Kong person during polls successful March adjacent year.

The astir 4,900 voters representing antithetic professions and industries who went to polls Sunday nether a dense constabulary beingness volition take among conscionable 412 candidates for 364 seats successful the 1,500-strong Election Committee. Other seats were uncontested oregon held by radical chosen based connected their titles.

“Today’s Election Committee elections are precise meaningful arsenic it is the archetypal elections held aft we person improved the electoral strategy to guarantee that lone patriots tin instrumentality office,” Lam said.

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It’s not yet known if Lam volition question reelection successful March. She said the caller Election Committee volition beryllium broadly typical arsenic it included much grassroots organizations and associations that correspond Hong Kongers who unrecorded and enactment successful mainland China.

In May, the legislature amended Hong Kong’s electoral laws to guarantee that lone “patriots” – radical who are loyal to China and the semi-autonomous territory – volition regularisation the city. The committee besides was expanded to 1,500 members, from 1,200, and the fig of nonstop voters for committee seats was reduced from astir 246,000 to little than 8,000.

The restructured electoral process ensures a immense bulk of the Elections Committee volition beryllium mostly pro-Beijing candidates, who are apt to take a main enforcement and astir fractional of lawmakers who are aligned with the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Sunday's ballot was taking spot astatine 5 polling stations heavy surrounded by police. Local paper South China Morning Post antecedently reported 6,000 constabulary officers would beryllium deployed to defender the polls, outnumbering the fig of voters.

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Results are expected Sunday night.

Four activists from pro-democracy governmental enactment League of Social Democrats staged a tiny protestation adjacent the polling presumption successful the Wan Chai neighborhood. They laid retired banners criticizing the “small ellipse election” arsenic having a pretense of representing nationalist opinion.

The 4 were stopped and searched by the police.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.