Protest against alleged National People's Congress Standing Committee interference in Hong Kong elections, Queen's Road Central, Sheung Wan, 6 November 2016
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On the following day, 7 November, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopted an 'interpretation' of Article 104 of the Basic Law requiring oath taking of all Legco members, judges and senior officials. This preempted a decision by local courts on a Judicial Review concerning the  disqualification of two localists from 'Youngspiration' who had won seats in Legco (thus arguably undermining Hong Kong's promised judicial independence), and opened the door to a disbarring of candidates deemed to be localist or pro-independence. This proved to be a way in which a pro-democracy majority in Legco was turned into a pro-government majority, thus denying the will of the electorate, which was in any case frustrated by the presence in Legco of Functional Constituency seats, which are mostly small-circle elections with votes controlled by pro-government forces. This had massive influence on the operation of Legco, and public attitudes towards its legitimacy.  The occupation of Legco on 1 July 2019 can be traced back to this moment - people felt that the government (or the NPCSC) had already effectively  'vandalized' Legco prior to the damage done in the occupation of 2019 which closed its operation down.  

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