Hong Kong government on Wednesday revealed a constitutional reform package designed for election of the Special Administrative Region(SAR)'s next top leader by universal suffrage in 2017.
Accompanied by all government principal officials, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam announced the "one person, one vote" chief executive election package in front of all lawmakers at the SAR's Legislative Council(LegCo).
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said earlier on Wednesday that "today is an important milestone for Hong Kong's democratic development".
Leung said that the package was in line with the Hong Kong Basic Law, the SAR's constitutional document and China's top legislature's decision on Aug. 31 last year, and he hoped the Hong Kong society including LegCo members could support the package to realize universal suffrage.
In delivering her speech at the LegCo, Carrie Lam said candidates of the next chief executive will be picked by a 1,200- member nominating committee which will be from four sectors consisting of 38 sub-sectors similar to the committee that elected the current chief executive in 2012.
Lam described the universal suffrage for the first time in Hong Kong history as "not only a great leap forward for Hong Hong's constitutional development, but also a historic moment for our country."
In general, the nominating procedures prior to a public vote should be divided into two stages, namely the stage of "members recommendation" and the stage of "committee nomination".
Firstly, a potential candidate could be recommended by at least 120 and at most 240 members of the nominating committee, and each nominating committee member could only recommend one person. Therefore, at least five and at most 10 persons would come out to seek nomination.
Secondly, the nominating committee should finally select two to three chief executive candidates through a secret ballot vote. Each nominating committee member may vote for at least two persons seeking nomination. The two to three persons who have the highest number of endorsements by more than half of all nominating committee members will become official candidates.
After that, all 5 million eligible Hong Kong voters may elect the chief executive-elect from the two to three candidates through "one person, one vote" using a first-past-the-post system.
According to the five-step procedure of Hong Kong's constitutional reform, such a proposed universal suffrage package must be endorsed by at least two-thirds of all LegCo members before Chief Executive Leung gives his consent and the top legislature gives final approval subsequently.
"Today, the government sincerely puts forth specific proposals that have been formulated on the basis of public aspirations as well as the overall and long-term interests of the Hong Kong community," Lam said.
Whether Hong Kong's constitutional development can move forward or will suffer a standstill is now in the hands of every LegCo member, Lam stressed, calling on all LegCo members to examine the proposed package as soon as possible by using their constitutional power.
"This is a call made on you by this era and it is history which places this responsibility on your shoulders," Lam said, adding that she hope that the lawmakers could complete the voting procedures before LegCo's recess this summer.
According to Lam, the SAR government collected more than 130, 000 written submissions from different organizations and individuals during the two-month public consultation period which ended in March.
A number of public opinion polls conducted by various associations and organizations in Hong Kong this month showed that around 60 percent of Hong Kong citizens agreed to realize universal suffrage based on the Basic Law and the top legislature' s Aug. 31 decision.
Leung said if such a package is vetoed, he would not be sure when Hong Kong people could have another chance to have universal suffrage since it is not easy to initiate a constitutional reform.
If Hong Kong could implement the universal suffrage in 2017, the next chief executive and the SAR government under leadership will have political mandate required to further promote constitutional development, including the aim of electing all LegCo members by universal suffrage, Lam said.
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