Million signers of pro-reforms petition a 'wake-up call' for pan-democrats
Organiser of campaign backing reforms says a million people have signed, and predicts gains for Beijing loyalists in upcoming elections
At least a million people have signed a petition in support of the government's political-reform package, and that should be a "wake-up call" for the pan-democrats ahead of upcoming elections, an organiser of the pro-government campaign says.
However, support for the campaign, organised by the Beijing-loyalist Alliance for Peace and Democracy, was sharply lower than for the one it ran during the Occupy protests last autumn, when 1.8 million signed a petition calling for an end to the civil-disobedience movement.
Critics have also questioned the latest campaign's credibility, as signatories were not required to prove their identity, meaning they could sign repeatedly or use fake names.
Countering these criticisms, alliance spokesman Robert Chow Yung insisted yesterday that the petition reaped "very good" results.
Comparing it with the two campaigns last year, he said: "This time we did not collect online [signatures], and we didn't allow those under 18, tourists or [foreign] domestic workers to sign it. Basically, it was only the eligible voters who could sign.
"It's a wake-up call for the pan-democrats," he said. "It doesn't matter if they don't believe - let's see after the [November] district council elections."
