# 2025 Hong Kong legislative election

The 2025 Hong Kong Legislative Council election is a general election that will be held on 7 December 2025 for the 8th Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Under the new electoral system introduced in 2021, 90 seats to the Legislative Council include 40 seats elected by the 1,500-member Election Committee, 30 seats of trade-based indirectly elected functional constituencies (FCs), and 20 seats of directly elected geographical constituencies (GCs).
The current election laws are considered to be neither free nor fair. Only pro-Bejing "patriots" are allowed to run, majority of opposition pan-democratic members were banned, jailed, or forced into exile. Virtually all opposition parties were intimidated into dissolving by the government and the police. 77.8% of the council is elected by a select few groups of professionals and corporate representatives, while only 22.2% of the whole council are directly elected, resulting in a disproportionate two-tier democracy and very limited popular representation.

## Background
### Past parliamentary session

The 7th Legislative Council elected in 2021 was the first after the national security law and electoral changes were imposed by the Chinese government. Without any legislator explicitly from the pro-democracy camp, the legislature packed with pro-Beijing members was criticised to lack meaningful discussions and debates, while newcomers of the parliament resorted to politically correct measures only, such as repeating speeches by Chinese officials. Ming Pao reported in August 2023 that amongst the 24 government bills passed since the beginning of the legislative term, including the domestic security law which was fast-tracked, 16 of those were approved without a quorum, prompting concerns of MP's performance. Andrew Leung, President of the Legislative Council, denied claims that the chamber rubber-stamped bills and defended it as highly efficient. However, an opinion poll by pro-government party and think tank Path of Democracy said 48.1% of the interviewed expressed dissatisfaction with legislators' performance and only 29.4% were content.

### Smart ballot box

In December 2024, the government announced a series of new measures to be implemented in this election. The Improving Electoral Arrangements (Consolidated Amendments) Bill contained a plan to introduce "smart ballot boxes" to ensure ballots were validly marked. While the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said the scanners would "streamline and enhance" procedures while ensuring that "cardinal election principles" such as voting confidentiality would be upheld, some lawmakers expressed concerns over the implications of compromising vote secrecy. Although insisting the voter rights would be protected as voters would not be identified, the government withdrew the proposal less than a week later after "considering the views of legislators". The bureau said it attaches great importance to the views and is willing to "accept well-intentioned advice", while the smart ballot boxes will still be made available for voters who choose to use them.

### End of Democratic Party and potential reforms

The implementation of the "Patriots administering Hong Kong" principle reduced the portion of elected seats to around 22%, which was considered as a decrease in democratic values. Hong Kong Economic Journal said some members from the business sector recommended Beijing authorities to draw up a timeline to gradually reintroduce more elected seats in order to improve Hong Kong's international image and align with the Basic Law article. The businessmen also reportedly trusted the new chamber would not be undermined when "anti-China" opposition voices would remain extra-parliamentary by the vetting committee. Third Side, the only self-claimed moderate group in the Legislative Council, and Path of Democracy hoped an electoral reform would be initiated by the government in due course.
Once the largest party in the Legislative Council and the flagship in the pro-democracy camp, the Democratic Party is expected to dissolve in 2025. Media sources indicated Chinese government has pressed for the closure of the "worthless" party, who was unable to run in the 2021 and 2023 "patriot-only" elections.

## Contesting parties and candidates

* Third Side: Chairman Tik Chi-yuen, the sole self-branded moderate legislator, will seek re-election at his Social Welfare constituency. The party aims at winning two geographical constituencies as a breakthrough.
* Path of Democracy: convenor Ronny Tong said he expected party members to run in the election.

## Retiring incumbents

Sing Tao Daily reported that as many as one-third of the 89 incumbents "may not be able to stay", including Paul Tse, who was named for making "politically incorrect remarks", and Lam So-wai for her poor performance. So Cheung-wing, who did not vote in the second reading of the security bill, was also said to be leaving the parliament. The paper also cited sources as stating that age and intra-party succession may also contribute to the retirement of others.

## Turnout

The previous Legislative Council election recorded a historic low turnout of 30.2%. The pro-Beijing side expected continuing low turnout for this election due to the National Games of China, taking place in November and December to be held in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau for the first time, shifting the public's attention. They believed a costly advertising campaign, similar to the 2023 local elections, could be criticized as a waste of public money when the government's deficit remains troublesome.