The latest survey shows that two-thirds of the Hong Kong people want the protesters to end their street occupation immediately. Photo: HKEJ
Proposal offers new hope to end political impasse
There’s still hope that Hong Kong people will accept the government’s political reform plan.
More people would accept the plan under the framework set by the National People’s Congress if the government appoints individual members to replace corporate representatives on the nominating committee that will select the candidates to the 2017 chief executive election, Ming Pao Daily reported Monday, citing a recent survey.
In a telephone survey conducted between Nov. 5 and Nov. 11 by the Center for Communication and Public Opinion Survey (CCPOS) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 45.4 percent of the 1,030 respondents aged 15 and above said they would say yes to the plan if the government replaces corporate members in the selection body with individuals, compared with 35 percent who are against it.
If the structure of the nominating committee is not changed, 36 percent are in favor of the plan while 46.7 percent are against.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said to foreign media last month that the government could consider such a plan.
Clement So, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University, said the survey results suggest that democratizing the selection body offers hope for the current political impasse to be resolved, although it might not be enough as less than half of the people favor the plan should the change be implemented.
According to the framework put forward by the NPC Standing Committee, the nominating body will be formed by the industrial, financial, professional, labor and religious sectors, which will be further divided into 38 teams, 11 of which will not have individual members.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the main groups leading the Occupy campaign, said such a change in the nomination committee is still not acceptable. Student leader Yvonne Leung said the real issue is high threshold set for a prospective candidate, who needs at least half of the panel members’ votes to run for chief executive.
Meanwhile, the CCPOS survey also showed that more people are opposed to the continued occupation of the streets by pro-democracy protesters.The percentage of people against it now stands at 44 percent, up nearly 10 points from the last survey a month ago. Those supporting the protest account for 33.9 percent of the respondents, down from 37.8 percent.
Meanwhile, 67.4 percent said the protesters should end their street occupation immediately.
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