NPC to deliberate on draft decision on HK suffrage

A draft decision on establishing universal suffrage in Hong Kong will be submitted before the country's top legislature before the end of its bi-monthly session on Sunday.

The draft law examines granting votes to residents for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's chief executive election in 2017 and its Legislative Council in 2016.

It is the result of a meeting presided over by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, the country's top legislature, on Wednesday morning in Beijing.

According to a statement issued after the meeting, Zhang and vice chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee heard reports on the issue by Li Fei, vice-general secretary of the NPC Standing Committee.

The draft was worked out based on the Basic Law of Hong Kong and views of committee members who discussed a report on the electoral reform by Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), on Tuesday.

It also took into consideration opinions of the State Council Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and those expressed in Leung' s report.

On Wednesday afternoon, Li added comments about the draft law to 165 committee members present at a plenary session. Zhang also attended the session.

No other details were available.

The current chief executive was elected by a committee in 2012. Hong Kong plans to introduce universal suffrage, the right for citizens to vote, during the next election in 2017.

Basic Law requires candidates for the HKSAR chief executive be nominated by a "broadly representative" committee.

But disputes remain in Hong Kong on core questions including how the nomination committee will be formed and other procedures for deciding candidates. Some proposals were obvious violations of the Basic Law, lawmakers said during Tuesday' s discussion.

The NPC Standing Committee should exercise power granted by the Constitution and the Basic Law of Hong Kong to make decisions on these core questions in order to promote consensus of Hong Kong residents and ensure smooth implementation of the new electoral process in 2017, lawmaker said.