Leading democracy scholar Larry Diamond suggests forming parliament in Hong Kong

Hong Kong should consider adopting a parliamentary system, a prominent democracy scholar has suggested, while a local academic believes a coalition between the chief executive and political parties is more realistic.

The city has been witnessing tension between the executive and legislative branches of government, in part because the chief executive is not allowed to hold a party affiliation and thus does not have guaranteed support in the Legislative Council.

"If Beijing is worried about unfettered populism and polarisation, switching to a parliamentary system would provide a better and safer model," Stanford University's Professor Larry Diamond, who has advised the World Bank and the US State Department on governance, told the South China Morning Post.

He envisions a Legco in which all members are directly elected, and from which a chief minister, taking on functions similar to those of the chief executive, will emerge. The system would require a change to the Basic Law.

On the nomination of chief executive hopefuls in the 2017 election, Diamond said some form of public nomination "is the only way to produce a chief executive democratically".

Beijing officials have voiced reservations, if not ruled out, the pan-democratic call to allow all voters to nominate candidates.