Fewer than 20 percent of district councillors will be chosen by the public in future with the rest appointed or picked by various committees, under a plan unveiled by the government on Tuesday.

Would-be members will be vetted in advance to make sure only "patriots" are in the running, and the councils will be chaired by district officers, who are civil servants, rather than councillors.

Announcing the plan, Chief Executive John Lee said the changes are needed quickly to make sure there's no repeat of the elections in 2019 when some of the winners tried to "bring Hong Kong down with them by jumping off a cliff".

"It's the 'black violence', it's the attempt to make Hong Kong independent, and the attempt to cause disaster to Hong Kong society as a whole that we have to prevent," Lee told reporters at a press conference.

Under the present system, there are meant to be 479 councillors in total, all but 27 selected through direct elections.

Under the proposed revamp, there will be 470 councillors, with 88 of them – or 18.7 percent – picked by the public.

Before getting to the vetting stage where a committee will decide whether an election hopeful is eligible, they will first need to get 50 nominations from residents of the district they want to stand in, as well as the backing of nine members of the city's area, fire safety and fight crime committees.

Those three sets of committees will select 176 councillors between them and the government will appoint 179 members.

There will be 27 ex-officio members, as there are now.

The CE said having the district officer serve as chairperson will provide better leadership and coordination, and will fully reflect that the councils are consultative bodies that are executive-led.

He added that councillors will be subject to a monitoring system, and those who "do not meet public expectations" will be investigated and "handled accordingly".

The government's plan for the councils will be put before Legco.