Hong Kong Bar Association rejects public nomination for 2017 chief executive election
Barristers reject key demand of pan-democrats but question notion that only 'patriots' can run
Hong Kong's barristers have dismissed a key demand of the pan-democratic camp in the debate over the 2017 chief executive election - and described one of Beijing's criteria for the city's future leader as legally dubious.
In its submission to the government consultation on electoral reform, the Bar Association rules out the idea of letting the public choose or even suggest hopefuls when the city elects its leader for the first time. It says the Basic Law is clear that only a nominating committee can pick candidates, despite claims by some pan-democrats that public nomination is vital for a truly democratic poll.
[The patriotism criterion] cannot possibly be a reasonable restriction
But the association describes as "highly questionable as a matter of law" the idea that candidates must be patriots who "love the country and love Hong Kong", as Beijing officials and loyalists have repeatedly asserted.
Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok said the submission set clear boundaries on the extent to which the nomination process could be used to "screen out" candidates critical of Beijing.
"The explicit language of Article 45(2) of the Basic Law does not envisage nominating other than by the [committee]. Likewise … [the clause] rules out a nominating committee consisting of the whole of the electorate or each and every registered voter," the association says in its 40-page submission.
The clause of the mini-constitution states that the chief executive should be elected by universal suffrage upon nomination by a "broadly representative" nominating committee that follows "democratic procedures".
Some pan-democrats argue that those words do not prevent a system in which the committee would have to approve, or at least consider, candidates with a certain level of public support.