Lawmakers to vote on HK suffrage draft decision

Chinese lawmakers on Thursday acknowledged a draft decision on the granting of universal suffrage in Hong Kong and suggested putting it to vote before the top legislature ends its session on Sunday.

Members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress discussed the draft in panels at the ongoing bi-monthly session.

They said the draft has defined a legal framework for universal suffrage in the election of the special administrative region's chief executive and conformed to realities of Hong Kong.

The draft is helpful to provide a constitutional norm for implementing the Basic Law, promoting consensus in the region and achieving the goal of universal suffrage in 2017, according to a statement issued after panel discussions.

The draft examines the possibility of granting votes to residents for the region's chief executive election in 2017 and its Legislative Council in 2016.

It was worked out based on the Basic Law of Hong Kong and views of committee members who discussed a report on the electoral reform by Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

It also took into consideration opinions of the State Council Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and those expressed in Leung's report.

The current chief executive was elected by a committee in 2012. Hong Kong plans to introduce universal suffrage, the right for citizens to vote, during the next election in 2017.

The Basic Law requires candidates for the HKSAR chief executive be nominated by a "broadly representative" committee.