Beijing loyalists not expecting two-thirds majority in elections for Hong Kong legislature, Legco president says

The pro-establishment camp is not expecting to win a two-thirds majority in next year's Legislative Council election following its bungled vote on the government's electoral reform package in June, Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said.

Tsang, a leading light of the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, made the remark yesterday, a month after his party was given the tough mission during a visit to Beijing.

"Some officials in Hong Kong and Beijing … are still dreaming about winning two-thirds of the seats," Tsang said.

"This optimism was most obvious at the beginning of this year, because … the Occupy protests cost the pan-democrats public support, and the SAR government … was then optimistic that the political reform package would be approved.

"But I think in the last two months, it has been clearer that the pro-establishment camp won't be eyeing a two-thirds majority," he said.

In June, the Beijing-decreed reform package for the 2017 chief executive election was blocked after it failed to secure support from the required two-thirds of lawmakers. The pro-establishment camp has 43 seats in Legco and must win four more in September next year to secure a two-thirds majority and push through reform without the need to win over any pan-democrats.