HKU pollster vows neutrality in Occupy Central discussion

The University of Hong Kong's chief pollster has vowed to stay "politically neutral" as the university hosts the second focus group discussion of the pro- democracy Occupy Central campaign tomorrow.

Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the university's public opinion programme, estimates 200 people will turn up.

The results will be published online to provide a reference for discussions hosted by Occupy Central's organisers and other political groups.

"The public opinion programme is providing Occupy Central with a professional service to organise its discussion series in the hope of raising the standard to international levels, both in terms of operation and the use of findings," Chung said.

"We will stay politically neutral towards the Occupy Central campaign … and the campaign pledged long ago to give us full autonomy in designing and conducting all activities."

The first focus group discussion session, described as a "deliberative poll", was held on June 9 at HKU and focused on the technical issues confronting Occupy Central, which is a last push for full democracy.

Tomorrow's session will focus on the principles and elements of universal suffrage for the chief executive election.

Participants have been asked to prepare by reading 30 articles, ranging from excerpts of the Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration to newspaper reports about the conflicting views towards "public nomination", an idea proposed by pan-democrats to allow ordinary voters to put forward candidates.

Participants will fill in a questionnaire before and after taking part in five question-and-answer sessions and small-group discussions with a group of academics.

Pollsters will then analyse if and how their opinions on key questions change after the discussions. Participants will be paid HK$100.

Chung said Occupy Central's organisers and academic advisers of the pan-democratic Alliance for True Democracy would not take part tomorrow. He hoped the focus group's profile matched the demographic features of the city's population.