Public nomination 'could violate Beijing's requirement of "balanced participation"'
Rimsky Yuen hints that pan-democrats’ plan for public nomination may not be workable, as propaganda chief mentions Beijing’s powers
The justice chief yesterday cited a fresh argument against public nomination of candidates for chief executive as Beijing’s Hong Kong propaganda chief highlighted China's power to declare a “state of emergency” if it ever deemed the government had lost control of the city.
As the debate on electoral reform in Hong Kong continued to heat up, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung stopped short of dismissing the concept of public nomination as unconstitutional, suggesting that the three-track proposal floated by pan-democrats on Wednesday - which would allow for nominations from the public and political parties that would be approved as a formality by the nominating committee - could go against the mini-constitution.
Allowing the public to nominate candidates could violate Beijing's requirement of "balanced participation", Yuen said.
"Someone suggested - I'm not saying this is necessarily the case - that it's very likely that candidates with the backing of a big political party, or a big bloc, will have stronger financial power and mobilisation power."
This might lead to candidates securing nominations only from a particular sector or social class. "Will this be inconsistent with the principle of balanced participation as decided by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress?" Yuen asked.
Yuen's comments came as Hao Tiechuan, the publicity director of the central government's liaison office, highlighted Beijing's power - granted by Article 18 of the Basic Law - to impose a "state of emergency" if it deemed that the city's government had lost control and national unity or security was endangered.