Voting for Hong Kong's district council elections got underway on Sunday, with the pro-China city government dismissing concerns of a potentially low turnout as many pro-democracy voters turning their backs on the polls. 

Sunday's candidates were required to seek nominations from three government-appointed committees, which effectively shut out all pro-democracy parties.  

"It is the last piece of the puzzle for us to implement the principles of patriots governing Hong Kong," Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Chief Executive John Lee said while casting his ballot, referring to China's ongoing efforts to weed out political opposition. 

As part of a widespread clampdown in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory under a so-called national security law, city authorities overhauled the councils' composition earlier this year. 

According to the new rules, seats up for direct election were drastically cut from 462 to 88. The other 382 seats are now controlled by the city leader, government loyalists and rural landlords.

A pro-democracy group called the "League of Social Democrats" said three of its members were detained Sunday in the Central business district. The group had planned to protest the elections. 

"Hong Kong people's right to vote and to be elected seems to be absent," the group said in a statement reported by Reuters news agency.

A police statement said three people were arrested on suspicion of "attempting to incite others to carry out acts that disrupt" the district council elections.

China consolidates its hold over Hong Kong politics 

The last district council elections were held at the height of the 2019 anti-government protests, attracting a record 71% turnout and a landslide victory for the democratic camp.

The councilors for Hong Kong's 18 districts handle mostly local-level tasks like sanitation, transport routes, and the maintenance of public facilities. However, since Beijing's crackdown, the council elections have been seen as a bellwether for public sentiment of Hong Kong's overall leadership.

Chief Executive Lee said Sunday the 2019 had been used to "sabotage governance" and endanger national security.

After Hong Kong was handed back to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, Beijing vowed Hong Kong the territory could retain its Western-style liberties for the next half-a-century under the "one country, two systems" framework.

However, massive protests in 2019 toward Beijing's increased tinkering with Hong Kong's legal system led to weeks of massive protests, and a large scale crackdown by Beijing.

Since then, leading figures of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement have been arrested or exiled, along with an overall crackdown on civil liberties and the free press. 

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jsi/wmr (AFP, Reuters, AP)