'None of the above' should be an option for voters in Hong Kong election: academic
Academic says giving voters a veto could break the impasse on reform
Hongkongers should be allowed to veto all candidates in the 2017 chief executive election, a legal scholar said yesterday in the latest attempt to break an impasse that threatens prospects for political reform.
Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee says a "none of the above" option would help ease objections to a stringent framework for reform set by Beijing, under which a 1,200-strong committee dominated by Beijing loyalists would choose two or three candidates for a public election.
The University of Hong Kong academic, also a Basic Law Committee member, made the suggestion ahead of a second round of consultation on reform next month. Meanwhile pro-democracy campaigners - who want any reform package based on Beijing's framework vetoed by lawmakers - continued to make themselves seen, hanging a giant yellow banner on the landmark Lion Rock, a repeat of a stunt from October.
Chen also suggested ensuring that a pan-democrat appear on the ballot by having the nominating committee vote on lists of candidates, each of which would contain one pan-democrat, rather than on individual candidates. That would help overcome the concerns of pan-democrats, who object to the screening out of candidates critical of Beijing.
Chen conceded that he had no idea whether the local or central governments would be open to his "liberal" idea, though it did not contradict the framework Beijing set in August.
"We should keep making the appeal even though we know it is difficult to succeed," Chen said in a radio interview.