Hong Kong residents vote in Legislative Council election

Beijing, Dec 19 (UNI/Sputnik) Polling stations opened on Sunday in Hong Kong where people are voting in the Legislative Council election, the first one since the major reform of the city’s electoral system.
Applications from 153 candidates have been approved by a special committee. The council has been expanded from 70 to 90 seats, with 20 representatives getting elected by direct vote and another 30 being elected by business groupings (the so-called functional constituencies). The remaining 40 seats will be taken up by members of the Election Committee.
The Sunday election, which was originally set to take place on September 6, 2020, but was postponed because of the pandemic, is being held in accordance with the "patriots run Hong Kong" principle.There are about 4.47 million registered voters who are eligible to vote in the Hong Kong election. Incitement to boycott or intentional casting of invalid votes is considered a crime and could lead to up to three years in jail.Hong Kong’s new legislative council will begin its work on January 1, 2022.