Sensible political reforms the Hong Kong government can offer for the 2020 Legco election and beyond
- The government has no excuse to delay the political reforms Hongkongers are clearly demanding. Sensible first steps include breaking up bigger constituencies and abolishing corporate voting in the Legco election, and making the chief executive nominating committee more representative
And there is no excuse for not following the track laid out in the Basic Law. After all, declining to do the right thing out of fear of failure is also an admission of weakness.
But that is no reason not to undertake some sensible, practical reforms of the Legislative Council in time for the next election in 2020. Because time is short, bearing in mind the need for amending legislation, we should start the process right away and give it priority.
The 35 seats elected through geographical constituencies are determined by what is essentially a form of proportional representation. Authoritative international research shows clearly that the best and fairest results are achieved using proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies of between four and six seats each.
That means three of ours – Hong Kong Island, Kowloon East and Kowloon West – are in the sweet spot, but the other two – New Territories East and West, which return nine seats each – are far too big. They should each be cut in half – perhaps with a north and south portion – giving us four constituencies with either four or five seats each according to the population within.
That’s a very modest step which can be delivered by local legislation, with no downside for either camp, and ensuring a fairer result in future elections. It should be a no-brainer.
The exact number is less important than endorsement of the principle. For some people, adoption of these two measures would be sufficient for a first step. But there is also a slightly bolder reform option.
That would involve scrapping 10 of the existing functional constituencies and turning them into super seats also, electing all 15 on the same basis as the present five. The 10 seats which now have only corporate voting lend themselves as obvious targets. But if this is too much of a stretch for 2020, then at least let us make a commitment to start scrapping the functional constituencies in 2024.
The underlying message seemed to be thus far and (maybe) no further: take it or leave it. The proposal is still weak, but it can be tweaked to improve it.
No universal suffrage in Hong Kong without compromise
The answer to the blues is that political reform is our constitutional duty. The answer to the yellows is that politics is always a compromise and half a loaf is better than no bread.
Mike Rowse is the CEO of Treloar Enterprises