Chief sees democratic 'ray of hope' with Legco vote likely in the bag

There is a "ray of hope" for democracy in Hong Kong, according to the chief executive, with Legco now likely to approve a revised constitutional reform package tomorrow.

Donald Tsang Yam-kuen made the comment yesterday when announcing that the Executive Council had approved in principle a Democratic Party proposal to revise the package.

Chief Secretary Henry Tsang has a word with Donald Tsang at a press conference yesterday

The party's "one-person, two votes" proposal, which would see the public returning the five new district council functional constituency seats in the 2012 Legislative Council elections, will be added at the domestic legislation stage if the reform package is passed tomorrow.

The revision is crucial for swinging the vote in the government's favor.

Tsang, appealing to all lawmakers to back the package, said: "We believe this proposal will make our elections more democratic and will pave the way for universal suffrage."
The motions to be voted on in Legco - regarding constitutional amendments on 2012 chief executive and Legislative Council election methods - will remain unchanged.

"The political reality is that our original package falls short by a few votes to meet the 40-vote threshold for its passage in Legco," Tsang said. "But we did not give up ... I am very happy that we have made a major breakthrough."

He added: "After discussions with various political factions in Legco recently, I am very happy to see a ray of hope in progress in democracy."
Tsang said room for negotiation arose after the Democratic Party no longer insisted that all demands it raised last month had to be met.
Political groups including the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Federation of Trade Unions, Economic Synergy, Liberal Party and Professional Forum have pledged to support the revised package "in the best interest of the community," Tsang said.

Under the latest proposals, candidates for the five new functional constituency seats will be nominated by elected district councillors and then elected by 3.2 million registered voters who do not have a vote in functional constituencies, on a one person, one vote basis. The existing Legco district council seat will be returned through a vote among elected district councillors.

That means every voter will have two votes in the 2012 Legco elections, one for the geographical constituencies, and the other for functional constituencies.

Secretary for Justice Wong Yan- lung said the revised method is in line with the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee decision in 2007.

Xinhua News Agency quoted a spokesman for the central government liaison office as saying the office eagerly supports the government's decision in accepting the proposal.

In Beijing, NPC Standing Committee member and former Legco president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai said this proposal has set a precedent for the way of electing Legco district council seats.