The possibility that the full list of nominations for the Selection Committee might not be published raises concerns over the transparency of the selection process for the first Chief Executive. That is a pity.
The Preparatory Committee went much further than expected when it threw the nomination process open to all. Early in July, when the scheme was first put forward by the sub-group working on the details, it was proposed that the full list of candidates should be made public. The Preparatory Committee appeared genuinely to want the broadest possible cross-section of the community to have a say in how the territory is to be governed and by whom. The numbers expected to apply are an indication of how widely that gesture has been appreciated. It would be a sad day for the notion of Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong if that openness were now to be reversed.