Opinion | How to make nominating committee ‘broadly representative’ for 2017 vote
Frank Ching believes the Election Committee format can be modified to fit the purpose of a 'broadly representative' committee for 2017
When the Basic Law was drafted in the 1980s, it was not possible to foresee what Hong Kong would be like 20 or 30 years down the road. Understandably, the drafters used general language regarding future elections.
Thus, Article 45 says that the "ultimate aim is the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures". It also says that the exact method "shall be specified in light of the actual situation" in Hong Kong.
The term "broadly representative" had a soothing effect, assuring people that the election will be genuinely democratic. But now that we are being asked to offer opinions on the 2017 election, we need to know what "broadly representative" really means.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee has said that the nominating committee "may be formed with reference to" the Election Committee. In fact, visiting mainland officials have made it clear that the nominating committee should be a replica of the Election Committee, which is widely seen as being controlled by Beijing, though there can be "appropriate adjustments".
It will have four sectors: business, the professions, labour and politicians. The first three are similar to the functional constituencies that return half of all members of the Legislative Council, and that many argue should be phased out.
The Election Committee, aside from electing the chief executive, also elected six members of Legco in 2000. After that, those seats were filled by direct elections. Clearly, the central authorities recognised that members elected by the Election Committee were not as representative as directly elected members.
