Pursuing constitutional development mainstream opinion in HK

Hong Kong's mainstream opinion holds that the five-step process of the region's constitutional development should be pursued to realize the selection of chief executive (CE) by universal suffrage as scheduled, according to preliminary results of the second round of public consultation on constitutional development. [Special coverage]

The second round of public consultation on constitutional development ended on Saturday.

The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ( HKSAR) collected more than 100,000 submissions from different groups and individuals during the two-month public consultation, preliminary results showed.

In line with the Basic Law and the decisions made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Aug. 31, 2014, in the second round, the consultation document sets out four key issues on the specific methods for selecting the CE by universal suffrage.

The issues include the composition and formation method of the Nominating Committee (NC), the procedures for the NC to nominate CE candidates, voting arrangements for selecting the CE by universal suffrage, and other related issues for the selection of the CE by universal suffrage.

Lam said the Hong Kong government will strive to publicize final results of the consultation in April and submit the methods for selecting the CE by universal suffrage to the Legislative Council in June.

If the methods are approved by the NPC Standing Committee after obtaining the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Legislative Council and the consent of the CE, Hong Kong people will be able to elect the next CE by universal suffrage in 2017, which will be a milestone in the development of Hong Kong's political system.

"Unfortunately, some opposition lawmakers claimed on many occasions that they would not accept the methods that are based on the decisions of the NPC Standing Committee adopted on Aug. 31 last year. Some of them even questioned the legal validity of the decisions," said Lam.

If the methods failed to be approved by the Legislative Council, the next CE will still be elected by a 1,200-member election committee, according to the Basic Law and the decisions of the NPC Standing Committee made on Aug. 31, 2014.

"Residents often encourage me to carry on. They told me they want the universal suffrage," said Lam, adding that many political groups also expect smooth progress of the constitutional development.

The central government has been unswervingly promoting the constitutional development in Hong Kong. Speaking to NPC deputies from Hong Kong Friday, China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang said in Beijing that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sincerely hopes the region can carry out the universal suffrage in the election of the HKSAR chief executive in 2017 according to the Hong Kong Basic Law and decisions made by the NPC Standing Committee.

That has been the CPC Central Committee's consistent stance on Hong Kong and also the expectations of the Hong Kong compatriots, Zhang said.

Several recent polls also showed that the Hong Kong society looks forward to the universal suffrage. A poll conducted by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong ( DAB), the biggest political party in Hong Kong, found that 61 percent of respondents thought the Legislative Council should pass the methods for selecting the CE by universal suffrage.

"If the bill was rejected by the Legislative Council, the opposition lawmakers should be responsible for depriving Hong Kong people of the rights of universal suffrage," said Holden Chow Ho- ding, chairman of Young DAB, the youth wing of the DAB.