The Hong Kong electoral law reforms: the end of democracy?

In March 2021, the National People’s Congress introduced a sweeping reform of the electoral system in Hong Kong. The changes deeply affect the composition and method of election of the city’s Legislative Council and the Chief Executive selection process. This paper aims at contextualizing the reform within Hong Kong history and, especially, the last decade of tense standoff between pro- Beijing and pro-democracy forces in the Special Autonomous Region, while also briefly recapping the debate on the issue of “constitutionalism” and “democracy” in China. The details of the new electoral law will then be analyzed, in order to show that the overhaul not only is a direct answer to the perceived political chaos in the city, but also a – probably successful – attempt at experimenting a different form of government, in which the will of the people is just one of the factors considered.