No joy for Carrie Lam as pan-dems dig in heels over Hong Kong's 2017 election

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's plea for the pan-democrats not to stand in the way of the political reform has again fallen on deaf ears.

The pan-democrats have vowed to boycott the second public consultation on arrangements for the 2017 chief executive poll, which began on January 7.

They did show up at a Legislative Council constitutional affairs panel meeting yesterday to discuss the impasse with Lam, but the pan-democrats made clear there would be no compromise.

Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit offered to hold formal talks with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying - as long as there was no "precondition" about accepting Beijing's reform framework. Under the framework, only two or three candidates - endorsed by most of the 1,200 members on a nominating committee - would be put forward for the 2017 poll.

Leung on Saturday extended an olive branch to the pan-democrats, saying the government was open to different views on the reform and he was willing to have a rational discussion about it with the pan-democrats.

At yesterday's meeting, Lam said: "There is general support from the public for 'one man, one vote' in 2017 … As elected public representatives, pan-democrats should listen to public views."