By Coconuts Hong Kong January 7, 2015 / 17:10 HKT
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Hong Kong’s pan-democrat lawmakers whacked out their yellow umbrellas at a LegCo meeting this afternoon, as Chief Secretary Carry Lam announced the second round of the controversial public consultation on political reform.
As soon as Lam kicked off her speech about the two-month consultation, which will focus on the process of electing Hong Kong’s next chief executive, no less than 27 pan-democrats marched out with their brollies held high, chanting, “I want genuine universal suffrage”.
The subversive lawmakers have been promising to boycott the consultation since Beijing announced in August last year that, while the Hong Kong public will be able to elect their leader by popular ballot in 2017, they will only get to choose between two or three candidates okayed by the dreaded 1,200-strong nominating committee.
At present, the committee is made up of representatives from 38 sub-sectors under the broader headings of "business", "professional", "social" and "political". Many are thought to have strong ties and loyalties to the central government.
As part of the consultation, however, the government may consider adjusting the make up of each sub-sector.
In her speech, Lam said the public will also be invited to submit their thoughts on three other key areas, namely the public voting process, the nominating process and the length of the nominating committee’s term in office.
Lam urged the pan-democrats to give up their boycott and (perhaps rather ironically) accused them of trying to deprive Hong Kong’s “five million eligible voters of their opportunity to elect the chief executive by universal suffrage”, reports the SCMP.
Chief Executive CY Leung released a statement echoing this line of thinking shortly after the meeting.
He said the government welcomes all suggestions that are expressed in a rational and lawful manner, adding, “Clearly, it is better to have universal suffrage than not, and moving forward is always better than standing still.”
Photo: dbc screengrab
http://hongkong.coconuts.co/2015/01/07/subversive-lawmakers-raise-yellow-umbrellas-launch-second-consultation-political-reform
