The chief secretary says a timetable for the introduction of universal suffrage will not be included in the government's constitutional reform report next month, Democrats who met him said yesterday.
The legislators, who repeated their demands in the hour-long meeting that any reform proposal should be aimed at increasing democracy, said the lack of commitment disappointed them.
Speaking after meeting Rafael Hui Si-yan, Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat said he told the chief secretary that the government had deliberately bypassed the legislature many times since Donald Tsang Yam-kuen became chief executive in July.
'The feeling we have is it will be very difficult for us to get more democracy, and he of course did not offer concessions. We hope Mr Hui will understand that if the reform plan does not further democratic development, what he will get is public opposition,' Mr Lee said.
One Democrat at the meeting said Mr Hui told lawmakers the report would detail the government's position on the mainstream reform plan.
'Basically, he told us to forget about a timetable, and ... anything like a massive broadening of universal suffrage in both the Legislative Council and chief executive elections,' the Democrat said.