Still hope for choice in 2017: Jasper Tsang

There is still hope for a more diverse field in the 2017 chief executive election - possibly including pan-democrats - under Beijing's restrictive framework.

So says Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing. The Beijing-loyalist politician believes there is scope for a wider field in the nominating committee's internal vote. That vote is meant to arrive at two or three candidates for the public ballot.

If a low entry threshold was set, say, at just 10 per cent support from the 1,200-strong committee, up to 10 hopefuls could qualify for the internal vote, giving pan-democratic hopefuls a fighting chance, Tsang said.

"I am [sure] pan-democrats would be among those aspirants," he told the South China Morning Post.

The committee is expected to be dominated by Beijing loyalists, but Tsang said: "The credibility of the chief executive election would be challenged if the nominating committee barred a pan-democrat who excelled in the campaign and scored well in opinion surveys from going forward to the public vote … Beijing would pay a heavy political price if a popular pan-democratic candidate was barred."

He expected the 2017 election campaign to feature televised debates similar to those in the 2007 and 2012 chief executive races.

This would be one way of allowing public voters to assess their candidates, he said.