Opinion | Hong Kong electoral reform a timely cure for Legislative Council paralysis
- Taxpayers should welcome the revamp, which will broaden representation in a legislature previously dominated by special interest groups representing their industry or district. The upgrade should result in more efficient decision-making in the government
“This is clearly an effort by one party to rewrite the rules of the political system.” This sentence was spoken, not by a member of Hong Kong’s opposition, but rather, by US Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell about the Democrats’ sweeping election reform bill at a rules committee hearing.
The fact of the matter is that from time to time, in every country, rules need recalibrating and readjusting to accommodate the changing economic structure, technological advances and the ever-evolving landscape of human progress. In fact, every 10 years, the United States undergoes a congressional redistricting process to redraw electoral district boundaries.
Not addressing this misallocation of our hard-earned tax dollars would be negligent of any government in any country. Perhaps an electoral revamp in Hong Kong is both desirable and overdue, if an untenable legislative standstill is to be remedied, order is to be restored, and governance is to be improved for the benefit of the public.
As it happens, millions in the city agreed, signing a petition in support of electoral advancement.