Petition plan to pressure pan-democrats to back down over 2017 Hong Kong chief executive vote
Signature campaign is expected to put pressure on lawmakers to approve screening for 2017 poll
Pan-democratic lawmakers will face pressure to back down from their firm stance on the 2017 chief executive election via a planned petition by allies to accept limited democracy in exchange for a chance to pick the city's leader by one man, one vote.
The idea of a petition came from a couple of moderate non-lawmakers, to urge their Legislative Council counterparts to support the government's upcoming reform proposal despite its expected imperfections, the South China Morning Post has learned.
The latest twist to the reform row can be seen as an attempt to put public pressure on all 27 pan-democratic lawmakers to vote for a proposal that is based on restrictions the national legislature laid out last August.
Unnamed pan-democrats drew up a draft statement after Zhang Rongshun, vice-chairman of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, declined to pledge in black and white that the election model could be revised beyond 2017 - and after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying dangled the possibility of seeking re-election.
In the draft, obtained by the Post, the 27 lawmakers are urged to support the proposal, "which would offer all voters a ballot to pick their chief executive".
"We understand [any model] under the August 31 framework would not offer genuine universal suffrage," the draft reads, referring to Beijing's decision to limit the field to two or three candidates who secured support from half the members of a nominating committee.
