HK submits election report

Panel retains sole power to nominate candidates

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying submitted a report to the national legislature Tuesday, confirming that proposals for 2017 universal suffrage will only accept candidates who are loyal to both Hong Kong and the central government.

The report, submitted to Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, suggested amendments to the methods for choosing the Hong Kong's next leader in 2017.

The report has made clear that only the nomination committee has a "substantive power" to endorse candidates, and such power of nomination must not be bypassed.

It is based on opinions collected through the 124,700 written submissions put forth by individual groups and members of the public during the first round of a five-month public consultation, which ended in May.

"The [Hong Kong] community generally agrees that the discussion should be made on the basis of the Basic Law and the relevant interpretation and decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC)," Leung said in the report.

According to Basic Law Article 45, which stipulates the requirements for choosing Hong Kong's top leaders, the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage is to be done upon nomination by a broadly representative committee in accordance with democratic procedures.

The submission marked the city's first move in a five-step process to determine the electoral methods for the selection of the chief executive in 2017 and for the formation of the Legislative Council (LegCo) in 2016.

Leung says in the report that the Hong Kong public is generally eager to see implementation of universal suffrage for the 2017 election, and agrees that the new chief should be a person who "loves the country and loves Hong Kong."

He suggested to the NPC that there is a need to amend the method for selecting the chief executive in 2017, while the method for forming the LegCo in 2016 will remain the same.

The report also made brief mentions of the controversial "civic nomination" process proposed by democracy campaigners, but did not address its feasibility.

However, the reports did state the majority agreed that the composition of the nomination committee should be decided by reference to the existing methods of forming the Election Committee. This means the nomination committee should be composed of four sectors in equal proportions, in order to meet the requirement for being broadly representative as stipulated in the Basic Law.

The current election committee is composed mainly of lawmakers, professional groups, business leaders and Beijing representatives.

The size of the nomination committee should be the same as the current election committee, meaning 1,200 members, and should not exceed 1,600 if an increase in size is needed, according to the report.

"With a limited expansion to the nomination committee suggested in the report, the government has further lowered the possibility for civic nomination," Ma Ngok, a political scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), told the Global Times Monday.

Ma believed the report did not objectively reflect the views of Hong Kong people, as there are still debates over the nature of the "love the country and love Hong Kong" requirement for the city's leaders.

The New People's Party vice chairman and lawmaker, Michael Tien Puk-sun, said he believed many Hong Kong people are disappointed with the report due to a lack of concrete advice on election procedures.

In contrast, Chang Chak-yan, another CUHK political scientist and co-founder of Silent Majority, which opposes the Occupy Central movement, said the report has accurately reflected mainstream views through the 124,700 public submissions.

The Hong Kong Federation of Students, co-organizer of Occupy Central, warned that a series of "civil disobedience" actions will take place, if the suggestion of civic nomination is rejected by central authorities, reported Hong Kong's Commercial Radio station.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor Tuesday urged Hong Kong society to move forward with the reform and not to waste time on impractical suggestions.

"We may lose the opportunity to realize universal suffrage in 2017 and disappoint the public if some political groups insist on their own stance and refuse to compromise," she said.

Following the report's submission, the NPC Standing Committee will decide in August on whether the electoral methods need to be amended.

A second round of public consultation on the reform proposal will then be held by the end of 2014 to form a more concrete and detailed reform package.

Tian Feilong, a legal expert at Beihang University in Beijing said the report is unbiased and expects only small amendments to the reform will be made.

"The five-step process is only to make minor amendments to the electoral methods listed in the Basic Law's appendix, while the inclusion of civic nomination will require a much bigger scale of amendment to Basic Law Article 45, which is not likely to happen," noted Tian.