Hong Kong’s Legislature Blocked Electoral Reform. Here’s The History Of The Effort.

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Pro-democracy members of Hong Kong’s legislature blocked passage of a Beijing-backed proposal for electoral reform in the city on Thursday. The proposed reforms would have allowed the city’s chief executive to be elected by popular vote in 2017, but only after candidates were screened by a Beijing-controlled nominating committee.

Supporters of the plan argued that it would have marked a major step toward the city’s first chief executive election with universal suffrage. Hong Kong’s pan-democratic legislators rejected the package as granting legitimacy to “fake universal suffrage.”

Click through the timeline below to trace Hong Kong’s political development through Thursday’s vote.