Pan-dem moderates must compromise to pass reforms, ex-adviser says

Hongkongers expect that Beijing will restrict nominations for the next chief executive race. Can pan-democrats accept an electoral system that does not meet all of their wishes?

Professor Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said that given the expectation that Beijing would demand plenty of restrictions on the city's next election, the ability of city lawmakers to influence the election rules hinged on whether "moderate" pan-democrats could compromise.

Lau, a former chief adviser to the Hong Kong government, said if the moderates listened to public opinion, the Legislative Council would be able to approve a new system for electing its leader in 2017. Without that pan-democrat support, he said the new scheme would fail and elections would continue under the system used in 2012.

It is far from clear what electoral changes voters would accept.

About 60 per cent of 824 Hongkongers polled by Chinese University this month said they wanted Legco to veto any electoral reform proposals that would screen out candidates critical of Beijing. The survey was commissioned by former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang's advocacy group Hong Kong 2020.

After that, 26 of the city's 27 pan-democratic lawmakers vowed on August 20 to veto any reform proposals that do not meet international standards for universal suffrage.