![]() ![]() In Wong’s view, Demosistō was pressing for more democracy and not independence. It’s a position the authorities viewed as incompatible with the territory’s Basic Law – a constitutional document setting out the principles of semi-autonomy from China – and which therefore invalidated his candidacy. At the time of the elections Wong was the secretary-general of Demosistō, a pro-democracy organisation he co-founded that - before it disbanded in June 2020 in the wake of Hong Kong’s draconian new national security law - was calling for “self-determination” for Hong Kong. ![]() ![]() “The elections were a landslide victory,” says Joshua Wong, the only person barred from standing in them, a ban he blames on “political censorship” and the “manipulation of Beijing”. Many of the newly elected officials were activists who had participated in the mass protests that had convulsed the semi-autonomous territory since June 2019, although Hong Kong’s most renowned activist wasn’t among them. Over 80 percent of seats – and 17 of the 18 district councils – went to candidates aligned with the pro-democracy movement, which had only won a quarter of seats in the previous elections four years earlier. When Hong Kong went to the polls on 24th November 2019, the territory’s pro-Beijing political establishment suffered a major blow. ![]()
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