The number of contested subsectors in Hong Kong’s powerful Election Committee has doubled compared with 2021, in a move observers said reflected Beijing’s push to foster healthy competition within the pro-establishment camp and strengthen the legitimacy of the body responsible for selecting the city’s next leader.

The two-week nomination period ended on Tuesday, with 1,115 hopefulsg up to run for 982 elected seats across 36 subsectors on the Election Committee. The poll will be held on November 22.

A total of 31 subsectors will hold contested elections, up from 13 in 2021, the first poll since the “patriots-only” electoral system shake-up.

Elected members will join 362 ex officio members and 156 members nominated by designated bodies to select the chief executive next March and elect 40 of the Legislative Council’s 90 members in 2029.

Contested subsectors include all 18 under the industrial, commercial and financial sectors, which will hold contested elections, breaking with their long-standing practice of coordinating within subsectors to avoid competition.

Among them, the commercial (second) and industrial (second) subsectors, representing the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong respectively, will stage contested polls for the first time.

Social welfare and medical and health services face the fiercest contests, with 25 and 23 candidates respectively vying for the 15 seats in each.

The five uncontested subsectors are labour, education, associations of Chinese fellow townsmen, representatives of Hong Kong members of relevant national organisations, and sports, performing arts, culture and publication, accounting for 259 elected members. All nominations will be subject to vetting by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee to ensure national security.

Excluding uncontested subsectors, only a small pool of 5,757 voters is eligible to cast ballots, including designated representatives from pro-government groups, corporate bodies named by authorities, and government-subsidised NGOs.

Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said a more competitive election would improve members’ performance and bring in fresh blood.

“If everyone is re-elected uncontested, how can others come forward to compete? This does nothing to help nurture politicians,” he said.

“With competition, those who are elected will have to work diligently … If they run uncontested, they may be unmotivated.”Lau stressed that the body must demonstrate broad representativeness. Active participation by elites from different backgrounds would help ensure the elected chief executive and lawmakers fairly serve the interests of various sectors, while also raising public awareness of and support for the poll, he added.

Lau said the Election Committee’s expanded role after the “patriots-only” electoral system shake-up – which included nominating Legco candidates and choosing lawmakers – had encouraged more elites and business figures to join.

The body also served as a platform for them to enter politics and demonstrate their expertise, while the political experience gained would benefit their future development, Lau noted.

Veteran political commentator Sonny Lo Shiu-hing said the trend was in line with the Legislative Council and District Council elections after the electoral system overhaul, with no seats left uncontested.

He said the central government aimed to encourage healthy competition within the pro-establishment camp and expand the patriotic front by attracting more elites to take part under the “patriots administering Hong Kong” principle. “Beijing wants to win the hearts and minds of more Hongkongers to the patriotic front,” Lo said.

“If the patriotic front is limited to the same group of people, it is unable to enhance its legitimacy and the breadth and depth of their participation.”Lo added that Beijing hoped a competitive election with a more robust electoral atmosphere would further improve the Election Committee’s legitimacy.

However, he cautioned that competition remained confined to the elite, while the public largely stayed apathetic or even cynical about politics.

“I believe the public holds a ‘wait-and-see attitude’ … there is a discrepancy between the elite political culture and the mass public,” Lo said. “Some of the public are just spectators watching.”The coming election will also see the absence of opposition-leaning candidates. The only centrist Election Committee member, Tik Chi-yuen, who stepped down as a lawmaker last year, has not sought re-election in the social welfare sector.

A growing number of former senior government officials have submitted nominations to run, including former justice minister Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, former health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee and former innovation and technology secretary Alfred Sit Wing-hang.

Major developers such as billionaire Pacific Century Group chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai, Henderson Land Development chairman Martin Lee Ka-shing and Sino Land chairman Daryl Ng Win-kong have also entered the race.

The committee comprises five sectors representing 40 subsectors, with four consisting only of ex officio or nominated members, including the religious subsectors, representatives of associations of Hong Kong residents on the mainland, Legco members and deputies to the National People’s Congress and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The full list of nominations can be seen here.