HONG KONG’S government unveiled a constitutional reform package designed for election of the SAR’s next top leader by universal suffrage in 2017.

    Chief Secretary Carrie Lam announced the “one person, one vote” chief executive election package in front of all lawmakers at the SAR’s Legislative Council (LegCo).

    Outlining the reform package’s details, Lam said that the city’s 5 million eligible voters could choose from a maximum of three candidates in 2017 and candidates for the next chief executive will be picked by a 1,200-member nominating committee, which will be from four sectors similar to the committee that elected the current chief executive in 2012. She said the reforms would allow for up to 10 nominees to be shortlisted by the panel, which would then narrow the number down to three candidates through a secret ballot.

    Lam urged lawmakers not to miss this “golden opportunity,” which she said reflected people’s aspirations for universal suffrage and represented “the biggest and most important step for Hong Kong’s long-term constitutional development.”

    Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said earlier yesterday that the package, which needs the city legislature’s approval before it breaks for summer in July, was in line with the Hong Kong Basic Law, the SAR’s constitutional document and China’s top legislature’s decision Aug. 31 last year. He hoped the Hong Kong society, including LegCo members, could support the package to realize universal suffrage.

    In general, the nominating procedures prior to a public vote should be divided into two stages, namely the stage of “members recommendation” and the stage of “committee nomination.”

    Firstly, a potential candidate could be recommended by at least 120 and at most 240 members of the nominating committee, and each nominating committee member could only recommend one person. Therefore, at least five and at most 10 candidates could seek nomination.

    Secondly, the nominating committee should finally select two to three chief executive candidates through a secret ballot vote. Each nominating committee member may vote for at least two people seeking nomination. The two to three candidates who have the highest number of endorsements by more than half of all nominating committee members will become official candidates for the election.

    (Xinhua)