Xia: Revamped electoral system to open new page of HK democracy

He added that the backgrounds of the candidates in the upcoming legislative election are "unprecedentedly diverse", adding that the candidates include many grassroots people, such as bus drivers, electricians, and tenants of public housing and subdivided units — something rarely seen in previous elections.

He added that the blind pursuit of Western-style democracy has little helped Hong Kong's democracy development, but only caused crises of social polarization, vicious competition, economic imbalance, and ineffective governance, which led to social turbulence such as the anti-extradition-bill unrest in 2019.

The new electoral system with remarkable advantages will help elections return to healthy competition and better serve Hong Kong people's benefits, Xia said.