Hongkongers still divided over Beijing's reform plan for 2017: poll

Hongkongers remain sharply divided over Beijing's plan for the 2017 chief executive election, a recent poll found, but about half of the respondents who opposed the plan said they would support it if corporate votes were replaced by individual ones to elect members of the committee that nominates candidates.

The survey found that, while 49.5 per cent of respondents wanted the reform passed, 38 per cent said Hong Kong's government should not accept Beijing's election framework. But 52 per cent of those said they would change their minds if the process for establishing the nominating committee was changed.

In addition, 37 per cent of those who oppose the plan said they would support it if the public ballot included a choice of "none of the above", as Basic Law Committee member Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee has suggested.

Researchers at Lingnan University's public governance programme polled 1,004 voting-age Hongkongers at random via telephone between January 26 and February 1 for the survey, which was commissioned by the Concern Group for Public Opinion on Constitutional Development.

That group of 15 liberal-minded politicians, scholars and professionals includes former Democratic Party lawmakers and Centaline Property Agency boss Shih Wing-ching, among others. It was formed last year and has since conducted four surveys on political reform, trying to trace the change in public opinion.

Group member Linda Li Che-lan, a scholar at City University's Department of Public Policy, said the government could improve the reform plan while staying within Beijing's framework.