2014-07-15
(L to R) Hong Kong's Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen pose with the election reform report during a press conference in Hong Kong, July 15, 2014.
AFP
Hong Kong's government on Tuesday sought to play down calls for public nomination of candidates as it requested legal changes to allow the city's residents to elect their own leader in 2017, sparking a wave of criticism from pro-democracy and civil society groups in the former British colony.
In a report to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's rubber-stamp parliament, Hong Kong Chief Executive C.Y. Leung said the elections would be run according to the special administration territory's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which calls for election candidates to be vetted by a special committee before being approved to run.
In past elections, such a committee has been stacked with pro-Beijing candidates, making the selection of a pro-democratic candidate highly unlikely.
Leung's claim that a broad majority of Hong Kong people support such a plan comes after an estimated half a million people took to the streets to call for public nominations on July 1, the 17th anniversary of the handover to Chinese rule.
"What is important is that if the international standards do not comply with the Basic Law and the decisions of the NPC standing committee, we have to follow the Basic Law and the NPC standing committee's decision," he told a news conference later Tuesday.
Angry protests
The announcement by Leung and his second-in-command Carrie Lam of the results of a public consultation based on responses from 120,000 groups and individuals, sparked angry protests in Hong Kong's legislature on Tuesday.
Lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung threw an inflatable hammer and a birdcage with the words "civil nomination" written on it at Lam, before being dragged out of the chamber shouting "I want civil nomination!"
