A think tank led by former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang is trying to break a stalemate over electoral reform by proposing to let candidates who fail to get past a nominating committee move on to the citywide vote nonetheless. Hong Kong 2020 is one of very few groups among pro-democracy forces to submit reform proposals to the government during the ongoing second round of public consultation, after pan-democratic lawmakers vowed to boycott the exercise to protest at Beijing's stricter-than-expected framework for reform in August. The pan-democrats have also threatened to vote down in the Legislative Council any reform plan the government presents under the decision by the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which restricts competition for chief executive to only two or three candidates who secure support from half of a nominating committee. Chan said yesterday that she sympathised with their frustration over the Beijing's ruling and understood their decision to boycott the consultation. However, her think tank should try to find a way forward by drafting a plan within Beijing's framework while introducing new elements, she said. "It's better than folding our arms and bowing to fate," the Hong Kong 2020 convenor said. Under the think tank's suggestion, anyone who gets 10 per cent of votes on the nominating committee would be listed on the ballot paper as a "recommended candidate" alongside the two or three formal candidates who qualify by clinching the required 50 per cent. Only formal candidates who win more than half of public votes can win the chief executive election immediately. Should nobody - or only recommended candidates - receive more than half of the public votes in the first round, the city would hold a run-off between the top two contestants, be they formal or recommended candidates. In that case, the nominating committee is required to endorse the recommended candidates for the run-off. Chan said the plan would not usurp the substantive power of the committee, adding that she believed pan-democrats would consider it seriously. Former Bar Association chairwoman Gladys Li, who helped draft the proposal as a Hong Kong 2020 member, said such a model would grant the winner real political legitimacy via the voting process. A Beijing-friendly legislator rejected as "absurd" the idea of letting "recommended candidates" contest the popular vote. "If someone who fails to win majority support from nominating committee members can still be a candidate, what is the point of having the committee at all?" Wong Kwok-kin, of the Federation of Trade Unions, asked. "Is it not stated clearly in [Beijing's] decision that a candidate must have the endorsement of more than half of all nominating committee members?" Democratic Party lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan, a pan-democratic heavyweight, also expressed reservations, saying the idea neither offered a real choice of candidates nor adhered to Beijing's framework. "The [recommended] candidates are not real candidates as they would not win the election even if they got more than 50 per cent of public votes in the first round of voting," Ho said. "Why don't we demand directly that the … decision be shelved if we have to make things so complicated?" Wong said he had become more optimistic the government's upcoming reform package could get past the legislature in summer. "From the various surveys, it seems to be getting clearer that most people want Legco to approve the reform." Additional reporting by Lai Ying-kit, and Jing Li