All 27 pan-democratic lawmakers have united in a pledge to veto any government proposal about the overhaul of the chief executive election that is based on stringent criteria laid down by Beijing last year. The pan-democratic camp issued its joint statement yesterday after the central government, through top officials including legislative boss Zhang Dejiang, voiced a tougher stance than ever on Hong Kong's political reform during annual meetings of the national legislature that began last week. "Now that the National People's Congress is in session, I really hope Hong Kong deputies ... will pluck up the courage and tell Beijing that people want universal suffrage with a genuine choice," Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing said. In their statement, the pan-democrats said the framework handed down in August by the National People's Congress Standing Committee violated provisions on the right to vote and equality enshrined in the Basic Law. The committee had made an unreasonable and unconstitutional decision and should "alter or annul" it. That decision stipulates a 1,200-strong nominating committee has the power to pick hopefuls for the election in 2017, and that only those who get support from more than half of the committee will move on to the one man, one vote public ballot. The Hong Kong government will present its final reform proposal next month. It needs at least four pan-democratic votes to get the package past a Legislative Council vote in July. Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah said Hong Kong officials had told him that mainland officials, such as the NPC's Basic Law committee chairman Li Fei, might visit next month for a Basic Law anniversary event. Tong said he hoped Beijing and pan-democrats could talk. A government source said nothing about a visit of mainland officials to the city was decided. Meanwhile, Legco chairman Jasper Tsang Yok-sing mocked remarks reported in the media that if the reform attempt this time failed, Leung Chun-ying would win a second term as chief executive and would introduce controversial Article 23 national security laws to the city. The comments came on Sunday from a person described in news reports as an authoritative pro-establishment source. "I very much doubt how authoritative the person is," Tsang said. If the central government really approved of Leung's performance and believed Article 23 should be legislated, this person would be "slapping the central government in the face". Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, the city's sole deputy to the Standing Committee, said if the electoral system remained unchanged, Leung's supporters were likely to vote for him again. "I do not believe the central authorities could even consider using such a strange way of trying to get [the pan-democrats to approve the reform]," Fan said. Additional reporting by Tony Cheung