Plan for Legco by-elections as 'referendum' on reform looks a non-starter

A proposal to trigger Legco by-elections as a "de facto referendum" to break the impasse of the Occupy movement is unlikely to go ahead.

The idea, floated by student leaders of the protest movement, has not been welcomed by pan-democratic lawmakers, who are either unsure of their chances of being re-elected or fret over what to do with the voting results.

With the government showing no sign of compromise on electoral reform, student leaders such as Alex Chow Yong-kang and Joshua Wong Chi-fung have said that by-elections would serve as a way to take the movement to the next level.

"The elections will be an opportunity to reach out to those outside the occupation zones, and to educate the public about our cause and the reform," Chow said. Wong's Scholarism, meanwhile, has held discussions with the crowd in Admiralty for the past three nights.

The students propose that either one or five lawmakers resign to trigger a by-election or by-elections, with the main campaign theme whether the government should restart public consultation on electoral reform.

There are two ways to trigger a city-wide vote. Under the first, five legislators, one from each geographical constituency, would resign. Under the second, one of the five lawmakers holding a "super seat", for whom 3.2 million voters would be eligible to vote, would stand down.