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Hong Kong revises election plan ahead of key vote
AFP - Tuesday, June 22
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HONG KONG (AFP) - – Hong Kong on Monday announced a revised political reform plan in a last-ditch effort to break a deadlock between the government and democracy campaigners fighting for universal suffrage.
Two days before lawmakers vote on the controversial package, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said the government would boost its "democratic elements" by raising the number of directly elected lawmakers, in line with a proposal by moderate opposition group the Democratic Party.
"The political reality is that the original reform package falls short of a few votes to meet the 40-vote threshold necessary for its passage in the Legislative Council," Tsang told a press conference.
He said the last-minute changes would pave the way for direct elections for the city's leader and legislature in 2017 and 2020 respectively.
The former British colony has a separate legal and administrative system from the rest of China, but its constitutional development falls under Beijing's remit.
At present, only half of the 60-seat legislature is directly elected, with the rest picked by so-called "functional constituencies" -- groups based on professions and mainly comprising pro-Beijing elites.
Under the original plan, the government proposed expanding the number of seats in the legislature to 70, with the new seats equally divided between directly-elected and functional constituency seats.
However, the Democratic Party proposed that the five new functional constituency seats be directly elected by 3.2 million eligible voters, who currently do not have the right to pick any functional constituency lawmakers.
The revised plan is expected to help secure the two-thirds support needed for approval, thanks to crucial votes from nine Democratic Party lawmakers.
But the revision has split the pro-democracy camp, with more radical factions accusing the Democratic Party of betraying the drive for universal suffrage.
Martin Lee, founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said he would consider leaving the party if it gave the revised plan a nod on Wednesday.
"I will consider. I think the Democratic Party now is not the Democratic Party I knew," he told broadcaster Cable News.
Lawmakers from the Civic Party said they would block the plan because it failed to spell out how universal suffrage could ultimately be achieved.
"How can your package bring us towards the ultimate goal of universal suffrage? Where is the blueprint? Is it like a promise written in water?" Civic Party leader Audrey Eu asked in a landmark television debate with Tsang last week.
The vocal Post 80s, a group of campaigners in their 20s and 30s, is staging a sit-in outside the Legislative Council on Wednesday when the lawmakers cast their vote on the reform plan, with thousands expected to attend.
"The plan is now different from the one which has been under consultation for half a year. How can the government rush it through the legislature in two days?" Fred Lam, a leader of the campaign, told AFP.
The government's U-turn gained momentum after Tsang's widely panned performance in the TV debate Thursday.
The past few days have witnessed a dramatic shift by pro-Beijing lawmakers, who are now throwing their support behind the democrats' proposal.
The government is eager to avoid a repeat of a standstill five years ago when it failed to secure passage of a similar reform plan.
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