New | Hong Kong government unveils crucial reports on universal suffrage for 2017
'Mainstream opinion' is that only a committee should have power to nominate candidates for chief executive, who should 'love the country and love Hong Kong', reports state
This afternoon the government kick-started the formal process of reforming the way Hong Kong selects its leader in time for the next chief executive election in 2017.
In two reports – one delivered by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to lawmakers, and one that will be delivered by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to Beijing – the government stated that the “mainstream opinion” in Hong Kong was that only a nominating committee should have the power to elect the city’s next leader.
Watch: Students respond after Carrie Lam unveils report on universal suffrage for Hong Kong in 2017
The reports also state that Hongkongers “generally agree” that reform should be strictly in accordance with the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, and that the next chief executive should be a person who “loves the country and loves Hong Kong”.
The top officials reported “considerable views” that the nominating committee should be expanded from the 1,200-strong Election Committee which has until now selected the city’s leader – but also noted “quite a number of views” that the number of members should stay the same.
Almost 800,000 had called for the public to be allowed to nominate candidates for the top job in an unofficial referendum organised by the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement.