As promulgated in 1990, the Basic Law allowed Hong Kong to take the initiative in introducing universal suffrage for the election of the chief executive after 2007, with the approval of Beijing. Approval was not needed for the introduction of universal suffrage to elect lawmakers: Hong Kong needed only to report the change to Beijing, for the record.
The local hurdle was a two-thirds majority in Legco - in other words, a high degree of consensus - to adopt the change.
After the July 1 marches in 2003 and 2004, Beijing changed the rules of the game through an interpretation of the Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, in 2004. Now the process of political reform can only be kick-started by a report from the chief executive, and the approval of the Standing Committee.
On April 16, 2004, in accordance with these new rules, then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa submitted a report to the Standing Committee. He set down nine conditions circumscribing the changes to be made.
Ten days later, the Standing Committee announced its decision - giving the green light to start the process for change but prohibiting universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008. On that basis, the Hong Kong government ignored the public support for universal suffrage for the election of the chief executive and Legco in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
That support has been consistently over 60 per cent, or nearly a two-thirds majority even at its lowest point.
As pointed out by pollster Robert Chung Ting-yiu at a forum last month, the government's proposals for electoral reform - which were voted down in Legco - did not have the backing of two-thirds of the community.