Asked if Legco's functional constituencies should be scrapped under universal suffrage, almost half the 1,000-plus respondents to an opinion poll said 'yes'. But asked if they should be retained with modifications, 44.6 per cent agreed. And though the majority agreed democratisation would proceed too slowly if the government's proposed electoral reforms for 2012 were adopted, far more of the respondents supported the proposals than opposed them. Only 29.5 per cent of the 1,007 polled agreed with pan-democrats that the proposals are a step backwards, while 40.3 per cent saw them as a step forward. Academics at Chinese University's Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, which carried out the survey, said the apparent contradictions in the findings were a result of the government's refusal to widen the scope of the public consultation on its reform proposals to include discussion of the future of functional constituencies, which make up 50 per cent of the legislature. They cited in particular the lack of consultation on whether and how the trade-based seats can be modified to comply with the principle of equal and universal suffrage. The government has said it is in no hurry to consider these seats' fate. Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen and other ministers say the issue should be decided by the administration under the first chief executive elected by universal suffrage in 2017. The government is proposing that, for 2012, the Election Committee which will select the chief executive be expanded by half to 1,200 members, an idea backed by 60.6 per cent of those polled, and that 10 seats be added to the Legislative Council, half directly elected and the other half forming an expanded functional constituency voted on by district councillors - an idea 56.7 per cent of the respondents support. Meanwhile, a University of Hong Kong survey of 1,028 people found concern about political problems in Hong Kong has tripled - to a post-handover record 12 per cent. Both surveys had margins for error of plus or minus 3 per cent.
