Hong Kong, Dec 17 (IANS): Two pro-democracy Hong Kong legislative councilmen lost their seats on Tuesday after the city's top court refused to hear their appeals against a previous ruling declaring their elections as invalid.

Au Nok-hin and Gary Fan were elected in March 2018 in a by-election to fill the vacancy left by lawmakers Agnes Chow and Ventus Lau, who were disqualified for using expressions during their swearing-in considered insulting to China, reports Efe new.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam had then said Chow and Lau were disqualified for advocating self-determination in their oaths, contradicting Hong Kong's Basic Law, and deviating from the "One country, two systems" principle that defines its relationship with the mainland.

However, the Court of Final Appeal confirmed on Tuesday that Au and Fan should not have been elected considering the two lawmakers they replaced did not have the opportunity for the appeals against their removal to be heard.

It remains unclear whether by-elections will be held to cover these two council seats, as the Legislative Council's current term ends next summer.

There are currently 67 lawmakers left in the Hong Kong legislative, of which 23 belong to the pro-democracy movement, according to local media.

Only 35 of the 70 seats in the local legislature are elected by all Hong Kong voters, while the rest are directly appointed by power groups in the city, many of them linked to China.