HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s legislature has passed a bill amending electoral laws that drastically reduces the public’s ability to vote and increases the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers making decisions for the city. The law empowers the city’s national security department to check the backgrounds of potential candidates for public office and sets up a new committee to ensure candidates are patriotic. The number of seats in Hong Kong’s legislature is expanded to 90, with 40 of them elected by a largely pro-Beijing committee. The number of legislators elected directly is cut to 20, from the previous 35. The bill, passed by a 40-2 vote, was met with little opposition, as most of the legislators are largely pro-Beijing. Their pro-democracy colleagues resigned en masse last year.
