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Wong, the only candidate to be disqualified, has said he does not support Hong Kong independence, nor is it the official line of his party, Demosisto.

Excluding Wong was “clearly a politically driven” decision, said Kenneth Chan, a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University who is running a project observing the local elections.

“Obviously Joshua Wong’s disqualification has a lot to do with his global profile as well as his activism in Hong Kong and overseas,” Chan said. “I believe that Beijing and the Hong Kong authorities now seek retaliation so that he would be kept outside the electoral systems.”

Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said Wong “cannot possibly comply” with the requirements of electoral law and accused him of promoting “self-determination” or independence for Hong Kong.

“There is no question of any political censorship, restriction of the freedom of speech or deprivation of the right to stand for elections as alleged by some members of the community,” the spokesman added.

Yet the decision was viewed as another setback for political freedoms in the former British colony, which over the past five months has been rocked by increasingly violent pro-democracy protests and an escalating police crackdown. The last-minute replacement of the official responsible for screening Wong’s candidacy also fueled concerns about the integrity of the process.

Wong has not played a central role in the current unrest roiling Hong Kong, but he remains the best-known of the city’s democracy activists.