2014-08-16
HKT 10:46
The Chairwoman of the Democratic Party, Emily Lau, has urged senior Beijing officials to listen to the views of pan-democratic lawmakers when they hold a seminar on political reform in Shenzhen next Thursday.
Ms Lau said it is important that the Central Government respects public opinion and grants Hong Kong a form of universal suffrage which is in line with international standards.
However, she said the Occupy Central civil disobedience campaign would begin right away if Beijing provides the SAR with an extremely conservative political reform model.
Occupy Central democracy supporters have threatened to paralyse Hong Kong's business district with peaceful mass sit-down protests if the National People's Congress Standing Committee offers an electoral method for the 2017 Chief Executive election which is not in line with international democratic standards.
The activists, who fear that potential Chief Executive candidates will be screened out by a conservative nominating committee, want the public to be able to nominate candidates, a process known as civil nomination.
However, both the Central and SAR governments have ruled this out, saying it is against Article 45 of the Basic Law. Article 45 says candidates have to be chosen by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee is expected to give its views at the end of the month.
http://m.rthk.hk/news/20140816/1030171.htm
