2021 Hong Kong electoral changes

The National People's Congress (NPC) initiated electoral changes in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on 11 March 2021 to "amend electoral rules and improve the electoral system" for its chief executive (CE) and the Legislative Council (LegCo), in order to ensure a system in which only Chinese Communist Party-defined "patriots" govern Hong Kong. The reforms have been widely criticized for their negative impact on the democratic representation in the Hong Kong legislature.

With the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) amending the Annex I and Annex II of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the compositions of the Election Committee (EC), which is responsible for electing the Chief Executive, and the Legislative Council were revamped. The size of the Election Committee was increased from 1,200 to 1,500 seats with a sizeable number of new seats nominated and elected by government-appointed and Beijing-controlled organisations. The Legislative Council was increased from 70 to 90 seats. The directly elected 35 current seats shrunk to 20 seats, and an extra 40 seats would be elected by the Election Committee. A new vetting mechanism would also be created for every candidate running for the Chief Executive, the Legislative Council and the Election Committee based on the approval of the Hong Kong Committee for Safeguarding National Security according to the review by the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) whose decision would be final and could not be appealed.

The electoral changes, which came after the passing of the Hong Kong national security law in June 2020 and the subsequent mass crackdown including arrests of opposition activists, were widely seen as a move to further curb the influence of the pro-democracy camp in the wake of the widespread anti-government protests of 2019 and the electoral landslide of the 2019 District Council election.