Lawmaker Ronny Tong won't lobby for 2017 election plan in Beijing
Ronny Tong says he won't push his vision for the 2017 election as he joins a Bar Association delegation to Beijing this week
Pan-democrat lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah is taking part in a Bar Association visit to Beijing, two years after being stopped from joining a similar delegation of lawyers to the capital.
But he has promised not to use the trip to promote his proposals for political reform and said he would not touch on the subject with Beijing officials unless asked for his views.
Tong and Civic Party colleague Dennis Kwok, who is also part of the delegation, were reported by a Chinese-language newspaper to be the first pan-democrats able to put their case for reform in Beijing amid a debate over electoral methods for the 2017 chief executive poll.
"I apologise to the Bar Association" for diverting attention from the visit's true intentions as a legal exchange, Tong said as he left for Beijing yesterday. "I will lobby for my electoral plan via all other channels, but I would not hijack this visit."
Tong, perceived as a moderate in the pan-democratic camp, has proposed widening the nomination committee which will put forward candidates for the election to include all district councillors, and giving votes for some representatives on the committee to individuals rather than corporations.
He believes a preferential voting system should be used in the election itself, due to be the first run under universal suffrage. Tong argues that allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference will ensure that the winner has broad support.