Democratic Party's Wu Chi-wai blasts Carrie Lam's defence of nomination plan as an 'attempt to deceive'
Pan-democrat lawmaker Wu Chi-wai blasts claim that nominating set-up will be 'more democratic'
A pan-democrat lawmaker has accused the government of "trying to deceive" Hongkongers by arguing that the body responsible for putting forward chief executive candidates in 2017 will be "more democratic" as its members will be able to vote for more than one nominee.
The Democratic Party's Wu Chi-wai reiterated that his camp would vote down the government's reform package as it would deprive voters of a "genuine" choice of candidates.
Last month, the government unveiled a package that strictly followed a National People's Congress' ruling . It proposed that when Hong Kong elects its leader by "one man, one vote" in 2017, voters must choose from two or three candidates endorsed by the majority of a 1,200-strong nominating committee.
Hopefuls will enter an internal primary after they secure 120 to 240 recommendations from the committee, meaning there could be between five and 10 primary candidates. However, only the top two or three who win at least 601 votes will go forward.
In 2012, winner Leung Chun-ying, former chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen and Democrat Albert Ho Chun-yan entered a three-horse race with 390, 305 and 188 nominations respectively, from a 1,193-strong Election Committee. Leung won the election with 689 votes.
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor recently argued that the government's proposal would make the nominating committee more "democratic" as each member could vote for two to 10 candidates in the primary, meaning the public slate would be more unpredictable.
Pro-establishment lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, from the New People's Party, endorsed that view and suggested even a moderate pan-democrat could get through.
Tien expected the pan-democrats to take up about 200 seats on the nominating committee, while the pro-establishment camp took the rest.
Under a hypothetical scenario that Tien envisaged, a moderate pan-democrat such as Ronny Tong Ka-wah could enter the primary with 201 recommendations, together with Leung, Tien's party leader Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee and Executive Council member Bernard Chan. In this case, on top of the 201 pan-democrats' support, Tong could be put forward for the public poll if 40 per cent of the pro-establishment members voted for him as their second choice.
"There will be little incentive to cast a third vote because it would only create competition … and Beijing will clearly indicate that members should only choose from [Leung, Ip and Chan]," Tien said. "But would all of the 1,000 'non-democrat' members listen?"
However, Wu said it was "unrealistic" to assume all nominating committee members would be "pure".
"There are small circles among the 1,200 members … and when you have [at least] two votes, there must be strategic voting to make sure that your favourite wins while your arch-rival is eliminated," he said.
Wu believed that under the proposed system, every Beijing-loyalist candidate would be tempted to field a protégé in the primary to block his rivals from entering the public race.
Under this scenario, Wu suggested, Ip would lose the primary even if 201 pan-democrats voted for her. "It sounds extreme, but … it's just realpolitik," Wu said. "It shows that the officials are deceiving Hongkongers … because in the end it is the force that manipulates 601 members that wins," he said in a reference to Beijing.
Tien dismissed Wu's hypothesis as improbable because it would "cause riots", but academics including Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung are on Wu's side. In an article published last month, Choy expressed doubts that Beijing loyalists would "dare to strike a deal with the pan-democrats".
Pan-democrat lawmakers have been invited to talks with Beijing officials on Sunday.
