Hong Kong political reform blueprint will address future changes after 2017 poll, says Rimsky Yuen
Reform package will spell out whether poll arrangements can be altered after 2017
Government officials are looking for ways to reassure the public that arrangements for the 2017 chief executive election can be improved for future polls if the reform package is approved.
The question of future changes would be one of three areas addressed in the final blueprint for reform next month, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said yesterday.
Pan-democrats have vowed to vote down the reform if it sticks to strict rules on nominations set down last year by Beijing. But some moderate pan-democrats have sought guarantees from Beijing that the model for 2017 would be subject to change.
The government needs four pan-democrats to change their minds to push the package - under which the public would elect its leader for the first time - through the legislature.
"We understand that people are worried that if we implement universal suffrage in 2017, this will be final and cannot be changed," Yuen said yesterday.
"We have clarified this issue before. But we are considering how we can boost people's confidence [on further reform]."
Under Beijing's framework, a 1,200-strong committee would pick two or three candidates for the public to choose from. Each candidate would need the support of 50 per cent of committee members.
Other areas addressed in the blueprint will be a lower "threshold" for would-be candidates to join a "primary election" within the committee, and arrangements for hopefuls to present their platforms to the public.
Local officials are understood to be trying to persuade Beijing to let them put a guarantee of further reform into the resolution for the Legislative Council's vote.
Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, the city's sole deputy to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said the nominating committee and number of candidates were possible areas for future reform. But Professor Lau Siu-kai, of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said Beijing would be unlikely to give a guarantee with legal effect. Alan Leong Kah-kit, of the Civic Party, said reform constrained by framework was unacceptable.
