China will control Hong Kong candidates

China’s parliament said it will tightly control the nomination of candidates for a landmark election in Hong Kong in 2017, a move likely to trigger mass protests in the city’s Central business district by disappointed democracy activists.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress said it had endorsed a framework to let only two or three candidates run in a 2017 vote for Hong Kong’s next leader. All candidates must first obtain majority backing from a nominating committee likely to be stacked with Beijing loyalists.

The relatively tough decision by the NPC — China’s final arbiter on the city’s democratic affairs — makes it almost impossible for opposition democrats to get on the ballot.