Hong Kong must pursue a practicable plan for electoral reform
Paul Yip and Sarah Choy say with public expectations running high, Hong Kong needs a practical plan for electoral reform that complies with the Basic Law while ensuring the nominating committee is neither a screening mechanism nor a rubber stamp
Elections are a tool to find people who are suitable for public office through established rules that protect the interests of all, including opposition and minority groups. If properly carried out, elections represent voters' wishes and provide legitimacy for those elected to lead.
With this in mind, we have reviewed the proposals put forward during the consultation on electoral reform, while being attentive to the realities on the ground, and have come up with a practical and achievable plan for Hong Kong in 2017. It complies with the Basic Law, accommodates the interests of different groups and is likely to be accepted by the people.
We have upheld the important principles of legal compliance, and equal, fair and credible election, compromising mainly on the technical details. This is, however, not the "ultimate" solution for electing the chief executive by universal suffrage; there has to be continuous adjustment and improvement in the future as circumstances change and new experience is gained.
In our proposal, the four sectors of the Election Committee would be retained in the nominating committee, but membership would be expanded from the current 1,200 to 1,600, to include all district councillors put forward for direct election by voters from the geographical constituencies in 2015. This would strengthen the nominating committee's electoral base from about 250,000 to almost 3.5 million.
The 500-plus district councillors (some of whom already sit on the Election Committee) and the 35 legislators returned by direct elections in geographical constituencies in 2015 and 2016 respectively would occupy more than a third of the 1,600 seats in the nominating committee, making it more representative and balanced.
Although the other three sectors would still make up a majority, this compromise could help gain a consensus. Individual votes should, as far as practicable, replace corporate voting in the sub-sectors. This would demonstrate the commitment of the administration and Beijing to introducing democratic procedures.