Pan-democrats clash over proposed electoral reform compromise for 2017

Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah sounded close to tears yesterday as he spoke of his heartbreak at being labelled "the betrayer of Hong Kong" by fellow pan-democrats after he put forward a controversial proposal for electoral reform.

Tong also hit back at his critics, saying they set unreasonably high demands in the battle for electoral reform by insisting on a three-track nomination system for chief executive candidates that includes a nominating committee as well as public and party nominations.

"Some onlookers might think pan-democrats have been bidding too high," Tong told Commercial Radio yesterday. "First they accept a proposal with a low nomination threshold. Then they call for public nomination. Now they say no part of the three-track system can be omitted.

"It is a bid [that is] too high that may make opponents doubt if they really have the sincerity to take part in talks."

In his own proposal for reform put forward in October, the barrister and lawmaker suggested widening the franchise of the nominating committee by including all elected district councillors and replacing corporate voting in some subsectors with individual votes. It did not include the idea of public nomination.

If the nominating committee was broadly representative - with two-thirds of its members directly elected by Hongkongers - it would avoid any threat of candidates being screened, he argued.