ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the influences of China on Legislative Council (Legco) elections in Hong Kong since 1991. As a peripheral autonomous system, Hong Kong’s elections are subject to both direct and indirect influence of the Chinese government. Constitutionally, the Chinese government has the ultimate authority to decide the political structure of Hong Kong. The Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 stipulates that the Hong Kong legislature after 1997 ‘shall be constituted by elections’. The 1989 Tiananmen crackdown pressed the British government to provide more protection to Hong Kong, in the form of better human rights and a more democratic system. The organizational capacity also proved vital in the Legco elections. The strong local bases augmented the support for pro-Beijing parties in the Legco election. The indirect influence of China in shaping the campaigns of Hong Kong temporarily subsided in the early post-1997 years. The rise of localism and pro-independence ideas in 2014–16 fundamentally changed the electoral game in Hong Kong.
