http://www.dpa-international.com/news/asia/39423646
Beijing (dpa) - China's top legislative body released a decision Sunday to grant Hong Kong residents the right to elect their next leader in 2017 through universal suffrage but under a number of restrictions.
A 1,200-member committee would nominate two to three candidates who must obtain more than half the votes of the committee before being able to stand for election, according to the decision from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
The candidate who then wins the popular vote would also have to be formally appointed by the central government before taking office.
Demonstrations against the decision have been announced by democracy campaigners in the semi-autonomous territory. One is scheduled outside the central government offices Sunday evening.
Occupy Central, an alliance of pro-democracy activists, had endorsed an alternative election plan that would include public nominations and "give voters genuine choice" among candidates.
The group had threatened to begin a wave of protests that would culminate in a mass sit-in that would block streets in Hong Kong's business district.
The group is expected to announce its protest plans Sunday night.
Chen Zuoer, a Beijing official who helped negotiate Hong Kong's handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, urged activists this week to back down in an interview with local radio station RTHK. He warned that a confrontation would end in bloodshed.
Britain negotiated freedoms for Hong Kong residents that are not given to ordinary Chinese citizens under the handover that grants Hong Kong relative autonomy until 2047.
But Hong Kong's chief executive, currently Leung Chun-ying, is now picked by a committee of 1,200 people, and half the legislature is elected by appointed interest groups.
Beijing has promised Hong Kong residents universal suffrage in 2017 in accordance with the handover agreement.
A sit-in by Occupy protesters on July 1, the anniversary of the handover, ended in clashes and hundreds of arrests.
Hundreds of thousands participated in the annual pro-democracy march that day, the highest number in a decade, after the State Council, which is essentially China's cabinet, issued a policy report that emphasized Beijing's authority over Hong Kong.
