Hong Kong bars 12 opposition candidates from running in legislative elections

Activist Joshua Wong and 11 other opposition figures have been barred from running in Hong Kong’s upcoming legislative elections.While disclosing this in a statement on Thursday July 30, 2020, the government of Hong Kong, said electoral authorities had disqualified the 12 nominees for failing to demonstrate their intent to support and promote the territory’s mini-constitution, or Basic Law.It added that the Hong Kong government supported and agreed with the decision and warned more nominees could face a similar fate in the near term.Wong confirmed his disqualification in a post on Twitter, saying he was barred for describing the new national security law as “draconian”.The barring of opposition candidates amounted to China’s “biggest-ever crackdown” on an election in Hong Kong, he said.He added that the move targeted “young progressive groups to traditional moderate parties”.He stated that “clearly, Beijing shows a total disregard for the will” of people in Hong Kong, “tramples upon the city’s last pillar of vanishing autonomy” and attempts to keep the city’s legislature “under its firm grip”.The move has been described as the latest assault on China’s critics in the semi-autonomous city.