By-elections back on the table in Tang's new plans
The government has for the first time raised the option of retaining by-elections for Legislative Council mid-term vacancies, in a consultation paper to be released today.
After weeks of angry debate over its attempt to scrap by-elections, retaining the practice is now among several options listed in an apparent effort to show that its two-month consultation on electoral reform is a sincere effort to canvass all views.
Another option for filling vacancies arising from resignations, death and serious illness is to hand the seat to the departing candidates running mate in the previous election. Another option would restrict Legco members who resign from vying for seats again.
In an article sent to local newspapers, Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen (pictured) writes that the consultation paper poses the question of whether by-elections should be held, and offers the pros and cons of each option. The article does not state the government's preference.
'The consultation is a genuine exercise in which the government has no tendentiousness,' a person familiar with the situation said.
Ivan Choy Chi-keung, a political scientist at the Chinese University, said the inclusion of the option of maintaining the status quo will give the public the impression that the government is sincere in seeking the public's views. 'I'm not sure whether it's just a political gesture put up by the government, but at least the public will feel the administration keeps an open mind,' Choy said.
Tang maintains that many Hongkongers believed that the loophole that enabled the by-election mechanism to be abused should be plugged.
'We should not accede to the demand for the proposed bill to be withdrawn. Those who seek to label the consultation - even before its launch - as a 'fake exercise' are seeking to sweep the issue under the carpet,' he writes.
The government's first attempt to plug that loophole by eliminating by-elections altogether proved to be immediately controversial. On July 4, Tang announced a delay in voting on a bill toward that end that was scheduled for July 13.
The U-turn came three days after the annual July 1 march, which drew the biggest turnout since 2004 - organisers put the attendance at 218,000, while police said 54,000 - and six days after some changes were made to the bill.
But pan-democratic lawmakers have demanded the government not just delay the vote, but withdraw the bill altogether.
In January last year, five Civic Party and League of Social Democrats lawmakers resigned, hoping that the by-elections they triggered would be seen as a de facto referendum on the scope and pace of democratisation. But all five were voted back into office last May without opposition. Turnout was a record low of 17 per cent.
In May, the government proposed to end future 'sham elections' by filling midterm vacancies with the next-best-placed candidates in the previous election, regardless of political affiliation. That plan was criticised as undermining political parties, so the government issued a revised version on June 28.
The administration plans to resume the legislative process in the 2011-12 Legco session.
