Hong Kong to hold chief executive election in March, 2022

China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will hold its chief executive election on March 27, 2022, Chinese state media reported.

Citing the HKSAR government, Global Times reported that there will also be elections for seven specified offices, including one from the education subsector, three from the medical and health services subsector, one from the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape subsector, and two from the engineering subsector.

In September, voting in the 2021 HKSAR Election Committee's subsector ordinary elections was completed, filling all 1,500 seats in the region's Election Committee, the first after the improvements to Hong Kong's electoral system earlier this year, Global Times reported.

Meanwhile, on March 11, a decision on reforming the electoral system of the HKSAR was adopted with an overwhelming majority vote at the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress, which is regarded as an important step implementing "patriots administering Hong Kong," Chinese state media reported.

As China has strengthened control over Hong Kong through varieties of laws including the draconian National Security Law, the people of the semi-autonomous city are facing increasing policing and crackdown.

Beijing imposed a national security law on June 30 last year as a response to widespread anti-government protests in 2019 that roiled the city. Most of Hong Kong's opposition lawmakers are either in jail or have fled overseas since the national security law crackdown began.