Hong Kong Plans Direct Elections in 2012

Finally, Hong Kong has taken a first step toward political democracy.

The Hong Kong government announced a reform consultation outlining direct elections starting as early as 2012 on Wednesday. The government will confirm the “blueprint of democracy” after listening to public opinion over the next three months and deliver it to Beijing.

Direct Elections As Early As 2012-

The consultation announced by Henry Tang, the Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong, asks people to choose one among three options regarding how and when to elect the chief executive and the legislature.

As for the election date for the chief executive, there are three options: 2012, 2016, or after 2016. Candidates must get the approval of the “election committee.” The number of the committee members will be one of three choices: less than 800, 800 or 1200-1600, and the number of recommendations will be 2-4, 8, or more than 10.

Simply put, residents will elect one of the candidates recommended by the committee. Currently, the 800-member pro-Beijing committee elects the chief executive regardless of public opinion.

The members of the legislature will be directly chosen in 2012, 2016, or after 2016. There are three options to elect the legislators: full direct elections of legislative council members, 50% direct elections, or a small portion related to direct elections. Currently, the 60-member legislative council consists of 30-directly elected members and 30-indirectly elected ones.

The Mainstream Opinions Will Be Delivered to Beijing-

The Hong Kong government plans to create a blueprint based on the most popular choices by mid-October after reaching a consensus.

The government will accept personal opinions through fax, post, and e-mail, as well as public hearings or discussions. It will regard choices supported by more than 60 percent people as “mainstream opinions,” and in the cases of less than 60 percent support, they will still be viewed as a “majority opinion.”

However, Tang said, “Public opinion will merely used as a reference.” In other words, the “mainstream opinion” or “majority opinion” might not be adopted during the following process. After gaining a public consensus, the blueprint should gain two-thirds of legislative council members’ approval, the chief executive’s approval, and approval by China’s National People’s Congress after its submission to Beijing, in order.

Hong Kong’s opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Liang Kwok Cheung criticized this, saying,” A consensus without a referendum is a fake.”

Hong Kong Chinese Prefer Direct Elections in 2012 But Beijing’s Approval Unsure-

A recent poll conducted by Hong Kong University has found that 56 percent of Hong Kong residents favored direct elections in 2012, followed by 16 percent in 2017 and 5 percent in 2022. 44 percent argued that “the election committee” should be removed for the sake of a fair competition. 56 percent of legislative council members wanted direct elections in 2012 or before.

The democratization of Hong Kong depends upon approval by the Chinese government. Wu Bangguo, a chairman of the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) standing committee that has the ultimate authority to interpret the Basic Law, the Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, announced at the “discussion meeting marking 10th anniversary” that “Hong Kong’s autonomy is granted by the central government, not its own.”

Yet, it is not easy for Beijing to reject the long-standing hopes of Hong Kong residents.

“We do not think that the central government will disagree with us when we present our mainstream opinion,” said Tang.

orionha@donga.com