Election Committee contenders balk at choosing chief and legislature by universal suffrage

Six of the 10 Legco Election Committee candidates are against choosing the legislature or chief executive by universal suffrage, according to survey findings released at a forum yesterday.

The committee will elect six legislators on September 10 and is likely to choose the next chief executive in 2002. The 10 candidates seeking the six seats were asked whether they supported the Chief Executive and the entire legislature being returned by universal suffrage in, respectively, 2007 and 2008, the earliest date this is possible under the Basic Law.

The six candidates who opposed universal suffrage are: former Legco President Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai; Shiu Sin-por of the One Country, Two Systems Research Institute; and former legislators Ng Ching-fai and Ng Leung-sing, both non-affiliated; Ho Sai-chu of the Liberal Party, and David Chu Yu-lin of the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance.

Three candidates - non-affiliated Ma Fung-kwok, Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen, chairman of the Progressive Alliance; and Yeung Yiu-chung of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong - were non-committal.

Herbalist and non-affiliated candidate Ho Ka-cheong was the only one in favour of universal suffrage.

Mrs Fan rejected calls for a referendum on whether the chief executive should be returned by universal suffrage in 2007. She said: 'We should strike a balance between maintaining our competitive edge and pursuing democracy. It requires not only a diversity of opinions, but also high political intelligence. Therefore, such a complicated matter should not be oversimplified.'