Hong Kong preps election reform plan
- Source: Global Times
- [01:58 June 24 2010]
- Comments
Police line a barrier as protesters demonstrate outside the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong Wednesday ahead of a vote on the amended political reform package for 2012. Rival protesters also held a demonstration. Photo: AFP
By Zhu Shanshan and Fu Wen
Hong Kong's legislature seemed close Wednesday to passing an electoral reform plan, despite attempts by some lawmakers to adjourn the debate, and in lieu of a massive rally outside the Legislative Council where campaigners called for universal suffrage.
Lawmakers in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) started debating the proposal Wednesday and are likely to cast their votes today on the blueprint of the political reform package, which would broaden the electoral base for electing the chief executive and members of the legislature.
The authorities made an amendment Monday after, for the first time, taking suggestions from the Democratic Party, which advised that five of the 10 proposed new seats should be elected, while voters are to choose among district councilors to fill the remaining five spots. With five seats directly elected in geographical constituencies and five other from district council functional constituencies, 10 seats will be added to the 60-seat legislature.
In that sense, voters can have two chances to vote for shortlists in two different constituencies, so, accordingly, the revised plan was dubbed "one-person, two-votes."
The Democratic Party, which proposed the modification of the reform, said it would support the revised plan. It could make the passage of the plan a virtual certainty.
The proposal, which needs 40 votes to pass, has already secured support from the majority of legislators, including 36 members from the "pro-establishment camp" and seven confirmed from the "pro-democracy camp," according to reports.
For the election of the HKSAR chief executive, the proposal suggested that the number of the Election Committee for electing the regional chief be increased from 800 to 1,200 and the nomination threshold for the election remain unchanged at a ratio of one eighth of the committee members.
Suffrage timeline urged
While the government regards the proposal as a breakthrough in the reform of its democracy progress, some critics argue that it falls short of the real goal of universal suffrage and demand a timeline for the goal.
Despite heavy rain Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of activists from the Post-80s group and 20 civil organizations - local activists' groups that oppose the reform package - assembled outside the Legislative Council building.
"The reform plan we have today is not what we want. It has nothing to do with democratic progress," Fred Lam, a leader of the Post 80s, was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying Wednesday.
Within the Democratic Party, voices opposing the plan can also be heard. Founding member Andrew Cheng Kar-foo announced Wednesday that he had decided to withdraw from the party since he doesn't support its decision to back the reform package. He said the current proposals did not even mention a roadmap for 2017 and 2020 universal suffrage.
The central government has said universal suffrage can start from the election of the Hong Kong chief executive in 2017 and for the legislature in 2020.
Though there are still divided views on the specific arrangement of universal suffrage in 2020 for the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, the consensus can be reached through rational discussions, and the division should not become the hurdle to passing the political reform plan for 2012, said Qiao Xiaoyang, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislature, earlier this month.
