Upbeat CY Leung ‘confident’ Hongkongers and Legco will back political reform proposal
With Leung upbeat on gaining Legco approval, chief secretary targets lawmakers likely to back blueprint amid claims she is out to split camp
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is lobbying selected pan-democrats to back the government's political reform package, which it intends to unveil next week, as Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying expressed his confidence that lawmakers would pass the controversial electoral blueprint.
But pan-democrats excluded from talks with Lam, today and tomorrow, slammed them as a tactic to divide their camp, which has vowed to veto the package.
The government will need the support of two-thirds of the Legislative Council to pass the proposal, which outlines how Hongkongers will elect their chief executive by "one man, one vote" in 2017. To do so, it will need to win over four pan-democrats.
Lam has long said she is not optimistic the plan will succeed. But the chief executive's optimism struck a different chord.
"I am confident that the proposal will win the support of the general public as [Hongkongers] would like to see universal suffrage being historically implemented in the city," Leung said.
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, meanwhile, called on pan-democrats to stop their "wishful thinking" that Beijing would offer any concessions.
