Beijing still eager to get the 2017 reform proposal passed

Beijing is still making a last-ditch effort to secure passage of the electoral reform proposal for the 2017 chief executive election, a mainland official revealed as the latest rolling poll found that for the first time that more people opposed the blueprint than supported it.

A mainland official handling Hong Kong affairs told the South China Morning Post that the Beijing and Hong Kong government would make all-out efforts until “the last minute”, and a moderate pan-democrat also said he understood that Beijing was “doing something” in the hope of getting the package passed by the Legislative Council next week.

But the latest poll conducted by three universities between June 3 and Sunday shows the difficulty of Beijing’s task in trying to win over the 27 pan-democrats, who have vowed to deny the government the two-thirds majority it needs.

The level of opposition increased 0.2 of a percentage point to 43 per cent, while those who backed the plan dropped 1.1 percentage points to 41.7 per cent, compared to the previous poll conducted by the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University and Polytechnic University up to Saturday.

The latest survey interviewed 1,115 respondents with a sampling error of 3 percentage points. Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan said he had mixed feeling about the findings.

“I feel sad as it reflects the city is severely split, but at the same time I’m also encouraged – as it shows that the citizens’ independent judgment has smashed the government’s claim that the majority of Hongkongers want the plan to be approved.”