The announcement was made one day before the two-week nomination period for Legislative Council elections kicks off.

According to a survey conducted by Hong Kong’s think tank Bauhinia Institute, more than 80 percent of the 1,520 local respondents said they will pay attention to the upcoming election in December.

A total 77.9 percent of respondents believed that all sincere patriots will have a fair chance to participate in this LegCo election, while more than 83 percent expected the election to fully reflect the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong”, while over 70 percent believe there will be healthy competition as well as an active voter turnout.

In March 2021, the National People’s Congress revamped the electoral system of the special administrative region, expanding seats in the Legislative Council from 70 to 90. Twenty seats are to be returned by direct elections from 10 geographical constituencies around Hong Kong; 30 from 28 functional constituencies covering different professional sectors; and the remaining 40 will be chosen by the newly elected 1,500-member Election Committee, which is composed of representatives from various sectors.