7 in 10 Hongkongers want Beijing to be silent on chief executive election: poll
Survey by moderate group also confirms John Tsang’s leading popularity ratings
About seven out of 10 Hongkongers want Beijing to refrain from commenting on the chief executive election, with only 1.9 per cent rating the central government’s “trust” as the most important criteria among the four laid out by mainland officials for the city’s leader, according to a poll by a moderate group.
The survey, conducted between March 1 and 7, was commissioned by Future at Hong Kong, formed by a group of moderate pan-democrats and scholars.
Two of the group’s core members – businessman Lau Ming-wai and barrister Laurence Li Lu-jen – also serve on Lam’s campaign team. Another member, Tik Chi-yuen, chairman of the middle-of-the-road party Third Side, has earlier expressed support for Lam. Future at Hong Kong stressed the trio were excluded from the survey to avoid a possible conflict of interest.
Of the 1,014 people polled, 69.4 per cent said it was “inappropriate” for Beijing to indicate its preference for a candidate.