An unprecedented six principal officials attended the Legislative Council yesterday to join a debate initiated by pan-democrats on the July 1 march.
Pan-democrats said the attendance of so many bureau heads showed the government had misunderstood the meaning of the pro-democracy march - that there was widespread discontent over many policies because of the lack of a genuinely democratic system whereby the government was accountable to the people.
A motion, moved by Democrat James To Kun-sun, noted the government's 'lack of sincerity to implement dual universal suffrage for the chief executive and the Legislative Council elections in 2012' and urged the government to 'face up to the aspirations of the people participating in the march'.
Despite the 19-10 vote in favour of the motion among directly elected members, the motion was voted down because it failed to get a majority among functional constituency members, who voted 20-3 against it.
The pan-democrats said the vote highlighted the need for universal suffrage as soon as possible.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung said he found it 'difficult to accept' claims the government lacked sincerity, citing the fact that it had obtained a timetable for universal suffrage in 2017 and 2020.
'Whether it is the government or political parties, we all have a constitutional duty to implement universal suffrage for these two elections,' Mr Lam said.
