Fairness of Hong Kong chief executive poll under threat from ex-leader’s comments, lawyers say
Group of lawyers on Election Committee that will choose Hong Kong’s next leader says warning by Beijing adviser Tung Chee-hwa that winner must be ‘acceptable’ only undermines poll
Lawyers with a vote in the upcoming chief executive election have said purported remarks by top Beijing adviser Tung Chee-hwa about the possibility of the central government refusing to appoint the winner could undermine the fairness of the poll.
The 30 lawyers who make up the legal subsector of the 1,194-member Election Committee that will choose the city’s next leader issued a statement on Thursday expressing “deep concerns” about Tung’s comments.
Tung, a former Hong Kong chief executive and now a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, on Friday reportedly told a closed-door meeting attended by more than 30 advisers to his think tank, some of whom sit on the Election Committee, that Beijing would not approve the winner of the March 26 election if it deemed him or her unacceptable.
While it remained unclear if Tung was referring to John Tsang Chun-wah, the underdog in terms of nominations from the committee but the candidate with the widest popular appeal among the four, Tung did say Beijing did not trust the former finance chief, and that another candidate, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, was more capable.
“Any attempt to exert pressure or influence, by use of threats, on any member of the ... Election Committee over their exercise of nomination powers, to the detriment or advantage of any potential nominee, is to be deplored and may amount to inciting (or attempting to incite) the commission of a criminal offence,” a statement by the group of lawyers said.
