The Basic Law provides that the chief executive and all legislators will ultimately be returned by universal suffrage, but stops short of saying when.
However, it stipulates that the methods of returning these posts after 2007 can be changed by a two-thirds majority of all legislators.
The mini-constitution does not say when a bill on the post-2007 electoral rules should be submitted to the Legislative Council. Thus, the Government can introduce such a bill to Legco any time before 2007, although it is not expected to do so in the near future.
Yet voters should be aware that whether they will really be able to directly choose their chief executive and legislators after 2007 will be determined by who they send to Legco between now and 2007.
In this connection, it is heartening to see most political parties endorse universal suffrage in their platforms. The Democratic Party and The Frontier have long championed a faster pace of democracy by demanding that the Basic Law be amended to allow the direct election of the chief executive and legislators before 2007.
The Citizens Party says future reforms must create the constitutional arrangements needed to allow elected representatives to form the Government and re-balance the powers between the executive and legislative branches.
Even the relatively conservative parties have embraced the call of democracy. The pro-business Liberal Party wants a fully democratic government by 2007. In the meantime, it is pushing for the adoption of a ministerial system.
