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Overhauling Hong Kong’s electoral system could pave the way for universal suffrage, says former city leader CY Leung
- New powers for Election Committee will make for less disharmony between executive and Legco, Leung says
- Beijing has said ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to those it deems a threat to national security, he adds
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An overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system could create the right conditions to open up the system later and even pave the way for universal suffrage, contrary to detractors’ fears that the revamp is regressive, the city’s former leader Leung Chun-ying said on Saturday.
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Beijing’s proposal to strengthen the Election Committee, which chooses the chief executive, by expanding its membership, giving it power to nominate all candidates and send some of its own members to the Legislative Council, would also make the political system more logical and help reduce disharmony, he argued in an exclusive interview with the Post.
Leung, who is vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), spoke a day after the plenary session of the National People’s Congress kicked off on Friday with a resolution on overhauling Hong Kong’s electoral system on its agenda.
Rejecting criticism of Beijing’s plans, he said Hong Kong’s electoral system had to be in line with “actual conditions” in the city, and people should not assume the arrangements cannot be changed.
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Outlining a pressing need for reform, Wang Chen, vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), on Friday referred to the concept of “democracy with Hong Kong characteristics”, saying Beijing intended getting rid of “loopholes and deficiencies” that had enabled anti-China, destabilising elements to threaten national sovereignty and security.
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