Too bitter a pill for some to swallow
Including the appointed district councillors in the Election Committee and giving them votes for the new functional constituency seats is bound to be the bone of contention in the government's constitutional reform proposal in the coming months.
From the perspective of the electoral system's design, the inclusion of appointed councillors violates major principles of fairness. Politically, it makes it very difficult to get the support of the mainstream democrats necessary for a two-thirds vote in favour of the proposal.
In principle, the inclusion of the appointed councillors allows the chief executive to appoint 102 members to the Election Committee which in turn elects the next chief executive. If the government proposal is passed, it allows all future incumbent chief executives to hand-pick 102 followers, who will in turn support his or her re-election. All chief executive election races - assuming there is ever to be a contest - will start at 102-0 in favour of the incumbent.
The inclusion of 102 appointed electors in a constituency of 529 which elects six legislators is tantamount to adding one appointed seat in the legislature.
Politically, the inclusion of appointed members does little to affect the balance of power in the new Election Committee.
But their inclusion in functional constituency voting may affect how many of the six seats different political camps can get. If a block-vote system is adopted, that is, if each district councillor is allowed to vote for six candidates, then conservative political groups can agree on a common candidate list by horse-trading, and sweep all the six seats.
If the government adopts a voting system that allocates seats more or less proportionately, the democrats may win two seats, giving them a stronger incentive to support the proposal. With the government refusing to commit on the details of the voting method, it is difficult to convince the democrats to support a system that may ultimately gift five more seats to the conservative camp.
Some of the 25 pro-democracy legislators would be willing to vote for the government's proposal, if watered down. However, the inclusion of the appointed councillors will be too bitter a pill for them to swallow. Even if the government can make six in the pro-democracy camp defect, the proposal and hence the government would not enjoy a high level of legitimacy.
Ma Ngok is an assistant professor of social science at the University of Science and Technology
