The Hong Kong government announced on May 2 what the next District Council (DC) would look like. The number of directly elected (by universal suffrage) seats has been dramatically reduced from the current 452 seats to 88, and the proportion has dropped from about 94 percent to about 19. This is criticized by both the academic and political circles as a massive setback.
The current Hong Kong District Council (DC) term will end on Dec. 31 this year. The Hong Kong government announced that there would be 470 members in the next District Councils, of which 179 are appointed (38 percent), 176 (37 percent) are from district committees, only 88 are directly elected (19 percent), while retaining the 27 (six percent) as ex-officio rural committee seats. Directly elected seats have been greatly reduced from 452 to 88, and the proportion has dropped from about 94 percent to about 19 percent….