HONG KONG — The deadliest fire in Hong Kong in decades is piling pressure on Beijing’s “patriots-only” governance system, casting a shadow on elections widely seen as a further step to tighten control over the city's legislature.

Sunday's vote to elect new lawmakers to Hong Kong's 90-member Legislative Council comes just 11 days after a massive fire engulfed seven towers in a high-rise apartment complex, killing at least 159 people in the financial hub's worst blaze since 1948.

With many voters in the city grown politically apathetic since China’s crackdown shut out the pro-democracy camp in recent years, Sunday's turnout rate will be a key barometer of public sentiment toward the government and its handling of the fire.

While there hasn’t yet been significant public protests because of

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