Political reform in Hong Kong may be deferred for 10 years, warns Liberal Party chief
Liberal Party chief warns that popular vote for chief executive could be deferred if pan-dems maintain their blocking vote in next year's poll
No blueprint on electoral reform will be retabled within 10 years if pan-democrats can maintain the power to vote it down as the critical minority in the legislature after the 2016 Legislative Council elections, warned a pro-business political party chief.
As the government proposal for the 2017 chief executive election is set to be voted down in the legislature in two weeks, Liberal Party chairman Felix Chung Kwok-pan said the result of next year's Legco vote would be the key to decide when the reform would be rolled out again.
"I believe the issue will not be touched for a period of time after it has been voted down. We will only see how it goes after knowing the result of the 2016 Legco election," he said.
The passage of the reform requires support from two-thirds of 70 lawmakers, meaning that at least four out of 27 pan-democratic lawmakers need to make a U-turn.
They have repeatedly vowed to oppose the blueprint because they say the stringent framework laid down by Beijing in August last year will fail to give Hongkongers a genuine choice in the 2017 poll.
We will only see how it goes after knowing the result of the 2016 Legco election
"If the pro-establishment camp could gain four more seats, a blueprint in accordance with the August 31 decision [by the National People's Congress Standing Committee on political reform] might be put forward again," Chung said.
