2017 poll diversity vital, says HKU academic
Law professor wants guidelines to be drawn up to ensure the public has a choice of three candidates with different political backgrounds
Guidelines should be drawn up requiring the committee that nominates future chief executive candidates to pick three candidates with different political backgrounds for the public to choose by one man one vote, a Beijing-friendly academic says.
Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee, a member of the influential Basic Law Committee, said the guidelines should also require nominating committee members to take account of public opinion when picking candidates.
The University of Hong Kong law academic said his plan, in contrast to Beijing's restrictive model, would ensure a competitive race and more voter choice.
"The guidelines may not have very strong legal binding effect, but they can be a good reference," Chen told Cable TV.
He also hoped lawmakers would pass the reform package.
"Debating over genuine universal suffrage or fake universal suffrage is meaningless. What matters is genuine public opinion," Chen said. "If a popular hopeful is screened out by the nominating committee and the one who subsequently wins the election has a low support rate, the world can see that it is a bad election."
