Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen will today unveil the government's revised proposals for electoral changes in 2012. They won't look much different to those the administration proposed in November, though they will contain minor concessions, such as the phasing out appointed seats on the 18 district councils.
The government will reconfirm the goals of electing the chief executive and the legislature by universal suffrage in 2017 and 2020 respectively.
In a statement to the Legislative Council today Tang will summarise the views expressed by the public during a consultation on the proposals that ended in March.
He will also respond with 'subtle language' to pan-democrats' call for an assurance there will be genuine universal suffrage, people with knowledge of the situation say. But his statement will fall short of the expectations even of moderates.
The Alliance for Universal Suffrage, made up of 13 groups, including the Democratic Party, wants Beijing to pledge:
That a candidate for chief executive in 2012 would not need more nominations than at the last election;
That functional constituencies would be scrapped by 2020; and