Update | Cap chief executive hopefuls at 3: anti-Occupy Central campaigner

A core member of the group formed to oppose the Occupy Central democracy campaign has suggested ditching the idea of public nomination and limiting the number of chief executive candidates in the 2017 election to three.

Under the proposal yesterday by radio host Robert Chow Yung, chief executive hopefuls would need to pass two thresholds to become formal candidates.

Chow, one of six convenors of the Silent Majority for Hong Kong, said any form of public nomination, which allows voters to choose chief executive candidates, should be ditched as "unconstitutional and unfair".

"The more supporters are needed for one to be qualified as a candidate, the fewer can run for the election," said Chow. "Compliance with the Basic Law is the overarching principle when we consider reform proposals."

Under Chow's proposal, candidates would require 30 to 80 endorsements from the nominating committee before then running for a "pre-election".

The committee, responsible under the Basic Law for officially nominating candidates, would then return three candidates by block voting, under which each voter makes three choices on a single ballot paper to indicate their favourites. The rest would be screened out.