Former education minister Michael Suen Ming-yeung has questioned whether the pan-democrats will be able to negotiate a better political reform package in the future if they veto what's on the table now. In a rare interview with Cable TV yesterday, Suen said he suspected that the pan-democrats were motivated by looming district council and Legislative Council elections when they vowed to reject the government's proposal for the 2017 chief executive poll. The pan-democrats say the blueprint, based on Beijing's restrictive framework, fails to give the public a genuine choice. Suen asked: "If the pan-democrats reject [the reform proposal] this time, why do they think they will get it [genuine universal suffrage] next time?" The government could unveil a draft proposal as early as this week. Although most politicians are pessimistic about the prospects of Legco approving the reform, Suen was optimistic. At least four pan-democrats need to break ranks and vote for the reform to get it passed. As to whether that would happen, Suen said: "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Jasper Tsang Yok-sing reiterated yesterday that he would resign as Legco president in order to vote for the reform if the government was one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for the reform to be passed. Under Beijing's ruling, any chief executive hopefuls would need majority support from the 1,200-strong nominating committee, and only two or three candidates could vie for the job top. Suen has held various ministerial positions since the handover - including constitutional affairs chief from 1997 to 2002. He joined the government as an administrative officer in 1966. Although he has appeared at functions occasionally since he retired in 2012, Suen has seldom commented on public affairs. Yesterday he said he was outraged by pan-democrats' filibustering and he did not think they would be "well-behaved" even if the reform was approved. "They would keep fighting … for democracy and universal suffrage, otherwise their voices would become weaker," Suen said. "They need to consider their own situation in the district council and Legco elections." Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit - convenor of the "lunch box meeting group" of 23 pan-democratic lawmakers who have vowed to vote down the proposal - said Suen's remarks were a "smear campaign". "Accepting it first would mean accepting it forever. The gains do not make up for the losses," he said. Another pan-democratic lawmaker, Frederick Fung Kin-kee, said accepting "pseudo universal suffrage" would not bring an end to the political disputes. Meanwhile, at a seminar on the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Basic Law, mainland legal experts - including Wang Zhen-min, Lian Xi-sheng and Rao Geping - said Beijing had the power to lay down a framework for the city's political development and it could not promise further amendments to the electoral system could be made after 2017.