People want a referendum on whether to scrap the municipal councils, the Democratic Party said yesterday. The party said a poll it had conducted of 522 people showed more than 70 per cent supported holding a vote on whether to abolish the municipal councils - as the Government will do at the end of the year - or merge them into one. Seventy-four per cent of those who backed a referendum wanted the vote held on November 28, the district councils polling day. Party legislator Fred Li Wah-ming will table a motion in the legislature on October 13, calling for a referendum on November 28. Mr Li will meet Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Michael Suen Ming-yeung on Friday to present the survey findings. Despite almost no chance of his motion being approved, Mr Li said: 'To hold a referendum on the district councils polling day is killing two birds with one stone.' But Mr Suen, who joined Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang yesterday in kicking off a publicity drive for the elections, disagreed. 'Of course we won't support it. Have you ever seen Hong Kong using a referendum to decide whether a particular policy should be adopted or not? 'It's never happened before,' Mr Suen said. 'In fact, the community widely accepts this.'
