Hong Kong Bans Opposition Candidate From Election

The Hong Kong government says it has barred a young pro-democracy activist from an upcoming election because her party’s political platform violates electoral laws.

The action is to enable the semiautonomous Chinese city to stifle opposition ahead of forthcoming election.

An official statement on Saturday said a female candidate’s nomination was ruled invalid.

She was not identified but 21-year-old Agnes Chow, a member of democracy activist Joshua Wong’s Demosisto party, confirmed it was her.

Chow is the latest to fall victim to the Beijing-backed government’s tightening restrictions on opposition candidates.

She was planning to stand in a March bye-election but the government said the returning officer decided she couldn’t be a candidate because of Demosisto’s platform, which advocates “self-determination” or independence for Hong Kong.

Chow told reporters that her disqualification was “political screening.”