Political reform tops election platform of Hong Kong chief executive hopeful Woo Kwok-hing
Retired judge also wants to scrap controversial primary school tests and build housing on brownfield sites
But much as the retired judge stressed his willingness to improve the electoral system, his proposal sparked doubt among pan-democrats, who are expected to be key Woo lobbying targets.
In introducing his platform, Woo maintained he was the best candidate even though the chief and financial secretaries might also enter the race.
Woo made political reform his top priority, vowing to broaden the electoral roll of the Election Committee that will select the city’s leader in March from 250,000 to one million voters, and eventually to three million in the next two terms of government to cover all eligible voters.
The stringent reform framework decreed by Beijing in August 2014, which was voted down by pan-democratic lawmakers, was “history” and “need not be mentioned”, he said.
But he also said the idea of “civic nomination”, advocated by some pan-democrats in 2014, was also not acceptable because it was not mentioned in the Basic Law.
Civic Party chairman Alan Leong Kah-kit, one of the 1,194 electors, lambasted Woo’s suggestion on political reform as nonsense. “His idea of using 15 years to achieve what is definitely not universal suffrage is not acceptable at all,” Leong said. “I don’t follow him at all.”
Another pan-democratic lawmaker, Charles Mok, said Woo should explain his political reform proposal in clearer terms, as he did not say whether he accepted Beijing’s restrictions, including a cap of two or three candidates to be voted on by the Election Committee.
Another proposal is to develop brownfield sites – degraded farmland in the New Territories occupied by recycling workshops and other operations – for housing and businesses.
A chief executive contender needs 150 Election Committee nominations to qualify and 601 votes to win.
