Hong Kong government sticks to rigid Beijing framework in 2017 election proposal
Battle lines drawn as chief secretary unveils controversial electoral reform blueprint
There were no surprises as Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor rolled out what she called an equitable final political reform proposal in the Legislative Council today – a plan that was immediately rejected by most pan-democrats.
“Each nominating committee member can recommend one person and the number of recommendations one can get will be capped at 240,” said Lam, adding that the system could produce five to 10 candidates.
At the voting stage in the nominating committee, each of the 1,200 members casts at least two approval votes among all the contenders. The two to three potential candidates with the highest votes – with a minimum of 600 nominators’ approval – can stand in front of the whole population.
Lam said the formation of the nominating committee would be modelled on the existing election committee that is tasked to choose the chief executive. That is, the nominating committee will have 1,200 members, 300 each from one of the major sectors – business and commercial, professionals, political, and social and religious – under which there will be 38 sub-sectors.