Anson Chan puts forward plan for 2017 chief executive election
Ex-chief secretary tables reform scheme featuring an enlarged nominating committee, and including 317 directly elected members
A former chief secretary has tabled a political reform proposal omitting the pan-democrats' call for the public to nominate candidates for the 2017 chief executive election, saying she hopes to "bridge the sharp divide" in public opinion.
Instead Anson Chan Fang On-sang, who chairs the discussion group Hong Kong 2020, suggests creating a 1,400-strong nominating committee with 317 members directly elected by all three million voters, to "ensure that all are able to participate in the nomination process".
At a press conference yesterday, Chan said proposals including public nomination were all worthy of consideration.
"We feel that the more proposals there are, the better chance there is … of reaching a consensus," she said.
Tam Yiu-chung, chairman of the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, expressed appreciation of Chan's proposals. "We welcome her approach of returning nearer to the Basic Law," Tam said.
We welcome [Anson Chan’s] approach of returning nearer to the Basic Law
But he added that since the National People's Congress ruled in 2007 that the nominating committee should be modelled on the Election Committee that elected the present chief executive, it would be difficult for Chan's proposal to win majority support from legislators.