Reform plan ‘end of the game’ for Hong Kong democracy say pan-dems in pledge to veto proposal

Pan-democrat lawmakers refused to accept the Hong Kong government’s electoral reform proposal for the 2017 chief executive vote after the blueprint was laid out by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor at the Legislative Council today.

Speaking after some 17 pan-democratic lawmakers staged a walkout, Civic Party chairman Alan Leong Kah-hit said that if Hongkongers accepted the government’s reform package, it would be the “end of the game” for democratic development.

Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing reiterated that her party’s six lawmakers would veto the package.

Leong took issue with Lam’s remarks that while some people believe that the central or local governments should promise to improve the electoral model, “the ultimate goal” – which a Basic Law article states is universal suffrage – “is achieved if the chief executive were elected by ‘one man, one vote’”.

“Lam … with her very carefully chosen words, has said it all,” Leong said.

“She said once we passed any model that is restricted by [Beijing’s framework issued on August 31 last year], that would be the ultimate model envisaged by the Basic Law’s Article 45,” he said.