Redrawing Hong Kong's electoral boundaries 'could favour pro-Beijing party'
Government proposal to expand geographical constituencies from five to nine could favour DAB in next Legco election, observers say
A government plan to redraw constituency boundaries for the next Legislative Council may work to the advantage of the city's biggest Beijing-friendly party, which initiated the idea, observers say.
Under the proposal, there would be nine constituencies instead of the existing five, but no extra seats would be created.
A scholar and some political parties suggested that could benefit the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which currently holds nine of the 35 geographical constituency seats.
Unnamed government sources floated the plan to some newspapers last week ahead of a second round of public consultation on reforms for the 2017 chief executive election and 2016 Legco election.
DAB spokesman and lawmaker Ip Kwok-him argued in favour of the changes.
"The current constituencies are too big," Ip said. "It's difficult for a councillor to serve such a big population and such a big area."
He cited the example of New Territories West, which covers a vast area from Yuen Long to Tsuen Wan and outlying islands.
His party had submitted the proposal to the government seeking to make the work of legislative councillors easier, he said.
Lawmakers returned from the five geographical constituencies make up half of the 70-member Legco. The DAB is the city's biggest political party in terms of membership, resources and representation in the legislature.
Under the proposal there would be nine smaller constituencies, each returning three to five members, down from the current average of seven.
A government source said it had taken on the DAB's proposal and was considering basing constituencies on the boundaries of the city's 18 districts. He would not say how many smaller constituencies might be planned.
Chinese University political scientist Ma Ngok saw the proposals as mere "technical changes" rather than a democratisation of Legco.
The DAB could emerge as the biggest beneficiary, Ma said, "because it has the most resources to run new district offices and woo voters on the ground".
New People's Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee objected, saying the scheme could flush out small, emerging parties like hers and cause Legco to lose its diversity of opinions.
Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit said the realignment could affect pan-democratic parties, which had fewer resources than the Beijing-loyalist political machinery. But his party colleague, Ronny Tong Ka-wah, agreed with the DAB stance that the current constituencies were too big. With the large number of candidates, voters could get confused easily, he said.
Meanwhile, student activist group Scholarism has prepared consent forms for parents to sign and submit to schools if they support their children's participation in a class boycott on Friday. It expects 100 pupils will take part.
