Beijing 'fears blank vote plan for 2017 election will spark crisis'

Beijing fears that giving voters the opportunity to reject all candidates in the 2017 chief executive election would undermine the powers of the nominating committee and could even spark a constitutional crisis, a Hong Kong government official said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said senior mainland officials did not categorically reject the "none-of-the-above" option put forward by Basic Law Committee member Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee in December.

"But they are concerned that the proposal would undermine the power of the nominating committee to name candidates as it effectively gives voters the power to override their choices," the source said.

Under Chen's suggestion, voters would be able to cast a so-called blank vote if they did not support any of the two or three candidates put forward by a 1,200-strong nominating committee, a body based on the election committee that chose previous chief executives. If more than 50 per cent did so, the election would be run again. Chen argues that the system puts pressure on the committee to offer a range of candidates to choose from.

Pan-democrats condemn that nominating system - based on a framework set by Beijing - as an attempt to "screen out" critics of the central government. They have vowed to vote down any political reform package based on Beijing's framework.

It is against that backdrop, and with the government needing four pan-democratic votes to avoid the embarrassment of seeing its reforms fail to win the necessary two-thirds majority in the legislature, that Chen's compromise has gained momentum.

The source said some in Beijing were worried about a constitutional crisis if the election failed to produce a winner.