No such thing as global standard of democracy, former UN president says

There is no international standard of democracy as different countries function in countless ways, a former president of the UN General Assembly says.

The remarks by Vuk Jeremic contradict calls from Hong Kong's pan-democrats to introduce an election model that complies with "international standards of universal suffrage" as reflected in the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Citizens should enjoy equal rights to vote and to stand in elections, the covenant states.

Jeremic, a former Serbian minister of foreign affairs, was in town in the middle of a 10-day city-wide ballot on electoral reform conducted by the Occupy Central campaign.

One of the poll questions is whether the legislature should veto reform proposals that do not comply with international standards.

"There are different countries with different systems and different ways in which [the people] are exercising their political wills. So I think it would be wrong to measure one against the other, to judge this system is better or that system is better," Jeremic said at a seminar held yesterday by the China Energy Fund Committee.

The local think tank's deputy chairman is former home affairs secretary Dr Patrick Ho Chi-ping.